America's Entire Electoral System “Rotting From the Inside Out”

Now that Christmas is over, I can go ahead and write this depressing, most un-Christmasy post.  The linked article isn't just the usual bitching about voter suppression or elections being stolen by dark money.  Those are just symptoms of a much larger systemic problem.

America's fifty-plus state electoral systems — one for each state, each U.S. territory and the District of Columbia — are basically a giant cesspool of corruption and inaction.  Ditto for the Federal Election Commission, which is supposed to be overseeing all of the state operations. From the linked article:

“...when judged by international standards the US would rank near the bottom of electoral democracies.”

That's the opinion of Robert Pastor, director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management and an international elections monitor. 

And the Center for Public Integrity has completed a 6-month investigation of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).  The investigation analyzed “thousands of records and interviews with more than 50 current and former commissioners, staff members and associates.”  Among their findings:

The FEC has been virtually paralyzed, failing to act on dozens of rules, audits and enforcement matters.  In spite of the FEC's increased workload — thanks to Citizens United and other “free speech” rulings — the agency's staffing level is the lowest in fifteen years.  And some of the FEC's top positions are vacant, including general counsel, chief financial officer and accounting director.  Also, the agency's staff director doubles as the IT director.  Because of the increased workload and reduced staffing, the FEC has a quarter-million-page backlog that includes 270 pending enforcement cases.

These problems are exacerbated by ideological rivalry between commissioners and a “who gives a flying fuck?” attitude from Congress and the White House.

The 2014 election promises to have more 7-figure “campaign contributions” and more mudslinging than any previous election.

Should be fun.

Donald McGahn: Buh Bye and Fuck You Very Much

“Who???”  I hadn’t heard of Donald McGahn either until I saw this article yesterday.  If you’ve liked the billions of dollars in anonymous undisclosed “contributions” to political campaigns, you can thank Donald McGahn.  He was one of the six-member Federal Election Commission (FEC) until he resigned two days ago.

I never felt that strongly about the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, since (or so I thought) all we have to do is follow the money and see who owns whom.  Then suddenly all these non-profit “charity” organizations started popping out of the woodwork, donating gazillions of dollars to rightwing causes and candidates.  And since these organizations are disguised as “charity” groups, they’re tax-exempt and they don’t have to disclose their donors.

Needless to say, the other two Republican members of the FEC — yes, McGahn is a Republican, in case you had to ask — have consistently joined McGahn in derailing every attempt to require billionaires to crawl out from under their rocks and identify themselves when they purchase an election.  But at least McGahn is finally leaving.  His parting words:

“I’ve been there a little over five years, and I felt like I had done all I could do. It was time for new challenges.”

Yup, your work here is done, Asshole.  So many more things to fuck up, so little time.

There are now two vacancies in the FEC (another commissioner resigned earlier this year).  Obama has already nominated two replacements:  Ann Ravel (Democrat) and Lee Goodman (Republican).  The linked article says “Both are widely expected to be confirmed by the full Senate.”

Why of course.  Surely the Senate wouldn’t be planning any sort of obstruction or filibustering now, would they?

I’m not usually in favor of litmus tests, but in this case, Obama and the Democrats should make absolutely certain that both of these nominees will require DISCLOSURE of all political “contributions.”  If not, replace him/her with someone who will.  And if a potential commissioner promises to crack down on these cowards who make secret donations, and then gets filibustered, use the Nuclear Option.

Federal Election Commission: the REAL Culprit Behind Huge Anonymous Campaign Contributions

Don’t get me wrong.  The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision sucks balls.  Citizens United overturned decades of restrictions on political campaign funding; basically saying America is for sale to the highest bidder.

But Citizens United had nothing to do with disclosure rules requiring wealthy campaign donors to reveal their identities.  The culprit behind these anonymous campaign contributions is the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The Federal Election Commission has taken already-existing campaign disclosure rules and basically “re-interpreted” them into oblivion.  Under the FEC’s new “interpretation,” campaign donors still have to identify themselves — but only if the donor has specifically stated how the money is supposed to be spent.

Let’s say you’ve donated a million dollars to a militant anti-abortion group.  If you’ve specifically told this group “I want you to spend this money on TV ads attacking pro-choice candidates,” then your identity has to be revealed.  But if you’ve given a million dollars to this same group without specifying how you want them to spend the money — what the fuck else are they going to spend it on? — then you’re allowed to keep hiding under your rock.  You can purchase an election and the lowly public won’t even know who purchased it.

Last April, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D—Maryland) filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission, trying to get them to “un-reinterpret” the already-existing disclosure rules.  A month ago the FEC voted on a motion to consider Van Hollen’s request.  The vote was 3 to 3; the tie vote killed the motion.  Needless to say, the three No votes came from the three Republican appointees to the FEC.

While the Supreme Court gets vilified for its Citizens United ruling — and rightly so — nobody even knows the names of the three FEC commissioners who are allowing wealthy campaign donors to keep cowering in the shadows while they purchase one election after another.

Those three names are:  Caroline Hunter, Donald McGahn II and Matthew Petersen.

Anonymous — get busy.