Washington started out ostensibly with good intentions since McCain and Feingold introduced amendments for campaign finance reform in 2002 but those didn't last long.
At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission, according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act). At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.
WIKI: Political action committee
Citizens United turned it over through the Supreme Court and that blew out campaign finance reform or at least the most recent version of it. There was no surprise at the turnover since the same Court had greased George Bush into the Presidency two years earlier.
In its 2010 case Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned sections of the Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act) that had prohibited corporate and union political independent expenditures in political campaigns. Citizens United made it legal for corporations and unions to spend from their general treasuries to finance independent expenditures related to campaigns, but did not alter the prohibition on direct corporate or union contributions to federal campaigns. Organizations seeking to contribute directly to federal candidate campaigns must still rely on traditional PACs for that purpose.
WIKI: Political action committee
That already meant you could buy a politician with a corporate credit card but they found a way to make it even worse than that.
Super PACs were made possible by two judicial decisions: the aforementioned Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and, two months later, Speechnow.org v. FEC. In Speechnow.org, the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that PACs that did not make contributions to candidates, parties, or other PACs could accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations (both for profit and not-for-profit) for the purpose of making independent expenditures.
WIKI: Political action committee
That move took all the ropes off and George Bush was already rich but the Clintons made over $180 million from the time of the PACs until now and Barack Obama is off somewhere living the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous before he goes back to his Palm Springs pad.
Corrupt to the core in just fifteen years. Welcome to Washington. Bring your checkbook.
At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission, according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act). At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.
WIKI: Political action committee
Citizens United turned it over through the Supreme Court and that blew out campaign finance reform or at least the most recent version of it. There was no surprise at the turnover since the same Court had greased George Bush into the Presidency two years earlier.
In its 2010 case Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned sections of the Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act) that had prohibited corporate and union political independent expenditures in political campaigns. Citizens United made it legal for corporations and unions to spend from their general treasuries to finance independent expenditures related to campaigns, but did not alter the prohibition on direct corporate or union contributions to federal campaigns. Organizations seeking to contribute directly to federal candidate campaigns must still rely on traditional PACs for that purpose.
WIKI: Political action committee
That already meant you could buy a politician with a corporate credit card but they found a way to make it even worse than that.
Super PACs were made possible by two judicial decisions: the aforementioned Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and, two months later, Speechnow.org v. FEC. In Speechnow.org, the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that PACs that did not make contributions to candidates, parties, or other PACs could accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations (both for profit and not-for-profit) for the purpose of making independent expenditures.
WIKI: Political action committee
That move took all the ropes off and George Bush was already rich but the Clintons made over $180 million from the time of the PACs until now and Barack Obama is off somewhere living the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous before he goes back to his Palm Springs pad.
Corrupt to the core in just fifteen years. Welcome to Washington. Bring your checkbook.
No comments:
Post a Comment