Coverage of campaign finance has long been, well terrible, frequently if not usually less about enlightening or even informing the public than it is about misinforming the public. But the line of stories out today are some of the dumbest we’ve seen yet.
I’ll refer specifically to this report from CBS News, under the headline, "Big 3 Spending Millions on Lobbying," which tells us of the latest "scandal:"
"The auto industry spent nearly $50 million lobbying Congress in the first nine months of this year.
And people tied to the auto industry gave another $15 million in campaign contributions, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports."
There is so much wrong with this type of reporting, I hardly know where to begin. But I’ll focus on just four quick hitters, below the fold.
1. $50 million. Well. If only the car companies hadn’t spent $50 million lobbying, why, the bailout would only need to be $33.95 billion, insteadof $34 billion.
2. Of course the auto makers spend millions on lobbying. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, they are a very heavily regulated industry. Plus, they sometimes go to Washington seeking "bailouts." If anything proves what liberals (of the classical, not the modern, kind) have long said, this is it. Lobbying and influence seeking follow government. You cannot expect the government to regulate everything under the sun, and be prepared to throw around billions more to bailout bankrupt industries, and not expect lobbying to occur. Once upon a time there was a doctrine, written into the U.S. Constitution, that the government was one of limited, enumerated powers. This was in large part to limit the ability and hence desire of special interests to seek government favors. And once upon a time, the Supreme Court actually enforced this doctrine and also protected economic rights and freedoms under the Constitution. That no longer being the case, of course both special interest rent-seeking and lobbying merely to protect themselves from political assault has taken off.
3. Is CBS suggesting that "people tied to the auto industry" should be forced to relinquish their political rights? This story, like so many others, makes the hoary old mistake of identifying "Ford and GM" as "contributors" to political campaigns. But of course, it is against the law for Ford and GM to contribute to political campaigns. What CBS calls "Ford and GM" are actually employees of Ford and GM who make personal contributions (and, we should note, it is illegal for Ford or GM to reimburse them for these contributions, or to require them to make these contributions).
4. The article goes on to note that "the auto industry" (by which they mean people employed in the auto industry) has contributed about $438,000 to Michigan Senator Carl Levin’s campaigns. Now, Levin is serving his fifth term in the Senate. That averages out to about $84,500 per campaign, from people employed by the largest industry in the state. Since Levin first ran for the Senate in 1982, there have been in any given election year over a half million people directly employed in the auto industry in the U.S., and there are still about 175,000 people employed in the industry in Michigan alone. If we assume a managerial work force of about one in ten, you can figure 15,000 to 20,000 auto industry executives and managers in Michigan alone. If one percent of them contribute on average between $400 and $500, you’ve got your $84,500. No wonder Levin is pushing for the bailout. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the industry is his state’s largest employer and signature industry. No! It’s the contributions!
Oh, the corruption and twisting of the American political process!