Class Warfare

I know Warren Buffett famously declared that the rich had already won... but they're still on the attack... more than ever. “There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” That was 4 years ago and we've elected a Democratic president with substantial Democratic-- albeit not exactly progressive-- majorities in both Houses of Congress since then. There is the little problem of the Third Branch, of course, with their 5-4 conservative thumb very much on the scale on Mr. Buffett's class' side.

I can't tell you how excited I was yesterday when I read that Oregon Democrat Pete DeFazio is investigating impeachment charges against the Supreme Court's Chief Corporate Shill John Roberts (on perjury during his confirmation hearings), primarily due to the blatant rightist power play at the base of Citizens United vs FEC. I'm used to reading posts by Dan Pfeiffer, White House Communications Director, at the White House blog. Friday he reached out to the Huffington Post, presumably to reach a wider audience, asking the question that only the naive don't already know the answer to: What do they expect in return?

Pfeiffer gets right down to it: "[U]ndisclosed contributions will give special interests even more power over politicians. And, with that power, they plan to return to the days when lobbyists wrote the laws in Washington to benefit special interests at the expense of the American people." That pretty much sums it up and Obama has been warning the public-- and the Democrats in Congress. Keep in mind that when the House passed the DISCLOSE Act 219-206 on June 24 the vote was so close because 36 corporate shills (5 of whom are now being financed by both the DCCC and the Chamber of Commerce: Jim Marshall, Bobby Bright, Frank Kratovil, Glenn Nye, and Travis Childers) crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans against reform. I've listed some of the worst offenders below, along with the amount of money the DCCC has spent on trying to help each win re-election with I.E.s so far this year:

Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog- GA)- $489,623.23
Allen Boyd (Blue Dog- FL)- $167,094.27
Bobby Bright (Blue Dog- AL)- $1,135,508.36
Travis Childers (Blue Dog- MS)- $732,562.57
Kathy Dahlkemper (Blue Dog- PA)- $236,851.58
Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog- IN)- $506,290.91
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (Blue Dog- SD)- $81,964.25
Baron Hill (Blue Dog- IN)- $828,906.06
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)- $747,873.39
Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog- MD)- $1,118,981.78
Jim Marshall (Blue Dog- GA)- $30,981.15
Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog- AZ)- $808,762.11
Glenn Nye (Blue Dog- VA)- $699,932.53

Pfeiffer didn't denounce any of them. He held his fire for the Republicans. "Congressional Republicans blocked every attempt we made to put our democracy back where it belongs-- in the hands of the American people. Their opposition wasn't rooted in policy differences, because they've supported this type of legislation in the past. Rather, it was a cynical decision based on electoral considerations. And now, thanks to aggressive investigative reporting, we are getting a glimpse of the consequences lax disclosure rules have on our political process." He went on to comment on the big NY Times exposé this week-- a follow-up on the ThinkProgress investigation we've been referring to almost daily-- about how GOP front groups as using massive contributions from corporations and foreign powers seeking a weaker U.S. to finance a campaign to make John Boehner Speakers and Mitch McConnell Senate Majority Leader.

The New York Times reported today that one Texas billionaire alone has given at least $13 million to outside groups that are able to accept donations of unlimited size and are spending tens of millions of dollars on misleading, negative ads. This donor refused interviews, but his spokesman said, "We'll let the donations speak for themselves." And NBC News reported yesterday that this special interest money has been pouring in to these shadowy groups at such a rate in the past few weeks that they expect to raise as much as $250 million between now and Election Day.

Donations to many of these groups never have to be disclosed, which means the American people no longer have the right to know who is financing ads that are "overwhelmingly spreading exaggerations and falsehoods" in an attempt to influence an election. As the President said yesterday: "They could be insurance companies. They could be Wall Street banks. We don't know. We don't know who it is."

And this kind of activity is not limited to election season; it is a year-round campaign to take over our democracy as these groups attempt to bully lawmakers and distort key legislation on behalf of corporate interests. Additional reporting, based on corporate records, revealed a number of contributions from major corporations to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. For instance, Dow Chemical gave the Chamber $1.7 million last year as it fought rules tightening security requirements at chemical facilities. Prudential Financial gave the Chamber $2 million last year as the Chamber led a national advertising campaign against new financial regulations. And there was little doubt that Prudential expected a return on its investment. The company spokesman admitted that the money was designed to influence votes. "I am not suggesting it is a coincidence," he said in the Times story.

These types of stories about special interest power grabs will only become more common until Congressional Republicans end their blockade against stronger disclosure rules, like the DISCLOSE Act. Otherwise we risk a situation where laws are being made with shadowy special interests who hide behind their checkbooks, and not based on what's in the best interest of the American people.

And, more importantly right now, these groups spending millions ought to be straight with the American people. Who is funding your ads-- and what do they expect in return?

And why is China so eager to see John Boehner in the Speaker's Chair and Miss McConnell running the Senate? It sure isn't because they want to see a strong and vibrant U.S., take my word for it. Chinese money, Russian money, Arab money, Indian money... it's financing attack ads against Russ Feingold (D-WI), Joe Sestak (D-PA), Harry Reid (D-NV), Jack Conway (D-KY), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Robin Carnahan (D-MO), Ann Kuster (D-NH), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Paul Hodes (D-NH), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), and dozens more supporters of ending GOP incentives for corporate outsourcing. Watch President Obama warning about this last January and then again two weeks ago on a campus rally for Martin O'Malley at Bowie, Maryland: