For The Love Of Money
By Michael P. Tremoglie (09/26/04)
“Money, money, money, money, monnneeyy, Some people got to have it
Some people really need it. “
- For the Love of Money, The O’ Jay’s 1974
These words – lyrics to a ‘70’s disco song – pretty much describe the 2004 Democratic Party’s attitude about funding election campaigns.
The Democrats have, for decades, spuriously complained that they were never able to obtain the funds Republicans have for election campaigns. (Of course, they never seem to consider the in kind value of the union workers who provide the labor for Democratic campaigns. Labor that ordinarily would be paid for by Republicans.) However, since the advent of campaign finance reform, the Democrats not only have more labor resources, they now have cash flowing into the coffers of their 527’s. These 527’s are essentially legal cash laundering operations masquerading as advocacy groups, which were created by the campaign reform laws. Their name is derived from the section of the IRS code that concerns them.
Democrats were very adept at utilizing 527’s from their inception. They have such groups as MoveOn.org, America Coming Together (ACT), and the Media Fund (MF), doing their bidding. These groups are well funded with excellent access to the media. They have received millions from donors such as the felonious billionaire George Soros, and the government labor union AFSCME. According to the Washington Post, ACT and MF recently received $1 million from New York philanthropist Lewis B. Cullman; $505,000 from AgVar Chemicals President Agnes Varis; and $250,000 from Slim-Fast Foods Co. President S. Daniel Abraham.
The Republicans, for their part, attempted to prevent this funds flow to the 527’s. They were not able to do so and now have formed their own groups. Among them are the Leadership Forum (LF) and Progress for America (PA).
PA has been fairly successful obtaining funds. One of their donors would seem to be an unusual one for a Republican organization. PA received $1,000,000 from Jerry Perenchio, the Italian-American owner of Univision, the largest Spanish language media conglomerate extant.
Another PA financial angel is Carl Linder the CEO of Chiquita bananas and American Financial Group, which owns the Cincinnati Reds. Paul Singer of Elliot Capital advisors donated $500,000 and Crown American Corporation donated $150,000 to PA.
By contrast, Leadership Forum received only one $15,000 and several $200 donations. They seem to have some solicitations to make.
One person they might ask is Richard DeVos. The founder and owner of Amway, Inc., DeVos and his wife Helen, are philanthropists as well as political donors. When they do donate for political purposes they almost exclusively fund Republican campaigns. In 1994, Amway donated $2.5 million to the Republican National Committee, and Devos donated another $1 million in 1997.
It may be a commentary about the lack of innovation of the Republican Party because they did not access the resources of 527’s, or it may say something about their principles since Republicans believed campaign finance reform was a sham. Whichever it is, the Republicans now understand the benefit of them.
Ultimately, the real benefit of the 527’s it is that they have shown that the historical complaints by Democrats about their lack of financiers was a lie. The Democrats are a very wealthy and elite party. The 527’s also have revealed that the ability of Republicans not to endorse something new is somewhat deficient. However, necessity is the mother of invention and the Republicans are now creating their own advocacy groups using their George Soros’ equivalents – minus the felony conviction, of course.
This election will be as much about cash as elections ever were. Whether that means elections are bought or that people are just enthusiastic will be determined later. One thing is for certain, the campaign finance reform laws are ineffectual and do more to limit voter participation more than foster it.
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