By David Goodman
There are real threats to our representative democracy from the very wealthy (less than 0.1 percent of the population) spending freely on elections and their corporate allies funneling "dark money" through unaccountable organizations to help sway the results. Yet while this is often the top headline, there is also growing public confidence, beginning locally and across party lines, that anti-corruption laws may represent the first steps toward campaign finance reforms and winning back our democracy.
Yes, the Republicans swamped the Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections, increasing their majority in the U.S. House and taking over the Senate. Their campaign demonized President Obama although he was not on the ballot. They took problems, like Ebola and ISIS, which are serious but mainly thousands of miles from our shores and exaggerated them as immediate threats to national security. It was a campaign fueled less by traditional donors to the Republican Party and more by hundreds of millions of dark money from the Koch brothers and others. For their part, Democrats mainly ran away from Obama’s accomplishments, instead staking their election hopes on such single-campaign issues as access to contraception. Most lost. All told, this was the most expensive midterm election in U.S. history — $4 Billion that produced huge paydays for consultants, lobbyists, and the advertising budgets of TV and radio stations.
This skewing of our electoral politics from what voters say are the really important issues – whether it is jobs, taxes, or the education of their kids – was not lost on the majority of Americans. Many threw up their hands and figured their vote did not matter, resulting in the lowest midterm turnout since the 1940s. Polls consistently show confidence in the Congress in the cellar — single digits — and the Supreme Court and president not much better. Today, the political parties have been overshadowed by huge amounts of cash from unregulated, partisan Super-PACs and corporations funneling their money through dark secret organizations. Office-holders and candidates spend much of their time doing political fundraising for their next campaigns. "Doing the people’s business" may be standard rhetoric on the campaign trail and press releases from Capitol Hill, but the real beneficiaries of most laws in Congress are the wealthy and corporations and their lobbyists.
The cauldron of Big Money churned by 24/7 cable media overheats our political rhetoric; brings out zealous minorities to dominate primaries and limit broader choices in the general elections; and, ultimately, deprives the electorate and the country of the middle-of-the-road, consensus governments that once characterized our most effective problem-solving years. And, when all the votes are counted, there is a sickening feeling that not much has changed. We ask ourselves: Has America’s democracy been corrupted, spiraling downward and serving mainly the interests of the super-rich?
That is the view from the top, from the Washington insiders, and mainstream media. No doubt, this concern is real. But away from the non-stop campaign ads, there is another story. Starting locally, municipal Anti-Corruption laws are gaining support while creating grassroots success stories for bigger changes to come.
It started last summer in Princeton. On July 14, the Princeton mayor and council meeting in regular session voted its support of Anti-Corruption Legislation. Calling for "tough, new anti-corruption laws for politicians, lobbyists and outside groups such as Super PACs…to restore ordinary Americans as the most important stakeholders in government," Princeton became the first municipality in the nation to approve such a resolution.
The council’s resolution calls upon the 12th Congressional District representative and the 16th District New Jersey state Legislature to support and introduce anti-corruption legislation to the U.S. House of Representatives and the state Legislature, respectively. We, as local team leaders of Represent. Us, asked the candidates for Congress to endorse the American Anti-Corruption Act. Our new Congresswoman, Bonnie Watson Coleman, said "yes," returning her signed pledge to us. We intend to hold her to this commitment.
While this was happening in Princeton, the citizens of Tallahassee, Fla., were preparing even bolder action. A broad-based grassroots coalition, including Common Cause Florida, the Tea Party Network, the League of Women Voters, and the Florida Alliance of Retired Americans, came together and turned the American Anti-Corruption Act into a municipal proposal for voter approval on Election Day. The problem? The coalition found that less than 1 percent of Tallahassee’s population contributed to candidates for the City Commission. The rest came from outside groups and individuals with significant financial stakes in the commission’s decisions.
To end this corruption, the proposed law would lower contribution limits from $1,000 to $250; establish a $25 rebate for all Tallahassee residents to become potential donors, making the commission accountable to them; and create an independent ethics officer to oversee this process. The coalition would not bend to those who sought to defeat the anti-corruption amendment. On Election Day, the voters responded by approving the charter change by a 2:1 margin (https://www.represent.us/action/tallahassee).
Fears for the future of our republic are legitimate but hope for reform is flying just below the radar.
David Goodman, Ph.D., of Princeton, is a team leader of the Central New Jersey Committee of Represent.Us.
