Today I learned via e-mail that there will be a “rally” in Albany, New York to urge Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to “Fight Corporate Corruption of Washington” (curious italicization choices in the original). The message appears to be part of a nationwide campaign led by MoveOn (formerly MoveOn.org, of course) to push for a handful of campaign finance and ethics “reform” measures. Other organizations supporting today’s “rallies” (you’ll see why I’m using quotation marks around that term in just a second) include the Service Employees International Union, People for the American Way, Public Citizen, and Democracy for America..
The release breathlessly announces that “Over 100 folks have already signed up” (114 according to this MoveOn site) for the Albany, New York event today.
The site also reveals that there are 167 similar events across the country today, and typing in random zip codes from across the country would seem to indicate that attendance at most will amount to tens and tens of citizens. A handful of events have managed to make it past 100 in the number of people signed up to attend, but there are more with expected participants in single digits.
These numbers would seem to fall somewhat short of expectations for a rally that proclaims that it represents the 98 percent of Americans who aren’t corporations (I’m not sure exactly what they mean by that, but then neither do they I’d wager). Using the term “rally” to describe the 11 registered attendees for today’s event at 255 E. Temple Street in Los Angeles seems not quite right, though. Ditto for the three individuals scheduled to show up at Representative Joe Wilson’s office in West Columbia, South Carolina, and the seven hardy souls signed up to go to Senator Olympia Snowe’s office in Augusta, Maine also seems to not quite justify the “rally” designation. Maybe “basketball team with a couple of subs” would be a better descriptor?
Anyway, there is nothing terribly new about campaign finance “reform” failing to appeal beyond a small fringe of professional “reformers” at groups like Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause along with activists who would likely be busying themselves with phrenology or Lysenkoism if they hadn’t stumbled across “reform” first.
Nor is there anything surprising in the wish list of these campaign finance “reformers.” They want the Fair Elections Now Act passed, which would funnel hundreds of millions or even billions of taxpayer dollars into the campaign coffers of incumbents and well-connected politicians; they want Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn the Citizens United decision; and they want a package of ethics “reforms” adopted that would among other things prevent qualified and experienced individuals from working in government if they’ve been a lobbyist in the past five years, and to likewise prevent those who have worked in government in the past five years from becoming lobbyists.
But what did catch my eye in the e-mail was the following statement:
MoveOn.org Political Action is a political action committee [PAC] powered by 5 million progressive Americans. We believe in the power of small donors and grassroots action to elect progressive leaders to office and to advance a progressive agenda. We do not accept any donations over $5,000, and the average donation to MoveOn.org Political Action is under $100.
Note how proud MoveOn.org Political Action is of the fact that they “do not accept any donations over $5,000.” How noble! Intent on battling the scourge of “big money in politics,” or whatever the latest euphemism is among the “reform” community, MoveOn.org Political Action will absolutely not, under any circumstances, allow themselves to be tainted by accepting contributions of larger than $5,000.
Of course, and I’m sure it’s entirely by coincidence, the legal maximum that an individual can contribute to a PAC is… $5,000!
I’ve heard of making a virtue of necessity, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of turning legal requirements into a virtue.
More entertaining is that MoveOn.org Political Action is actually only half of the MoveOn organization. The other half is MoveOn.org Civic Action, a nonprofit 501(c)4 organization. And previously, there was a 527 organization, the MoveOn.org Voter Committee.
The (c)4 and 527 committees, of course, were not bound by any contribution limits, and apparently failed to adhere to the same virtuous, legally-required standards of the PAC. For example, the 527 committee accepted $2.6 million in 2004 from George Soros and another $2.5 million from Peter Lewis. Donor information isn’t available regarding the (c)4, but there is little reason to believe that it adheres to the $5,000 contribution limit any better than the 527 organization did.
In short, MoveOn seeks credit for the having their PAC comply with contribution limits that apply to all PACs, while their affiliated entities rake in the big contributions that they so decry elsewhere.
Perhaps the scores of Americans that are scheduled to turn out today on behalf of campaign finance “reform” could discuss amongst themselves why many Americans seem to be growing increasingly skeptical and uninterested in “reform” and the groups that push it, and ask whether touting your virtue in refusing large contributions when you’re legally prohibited from accepting those large contribution is, just maybe, contributing to this skepticism and lack of interest in “reform.”
But I suspect instead I’ll be adding “introspection” to “irony” among the list of traits that campaign finance “reformers” do not appear to posess.