Businesses and labor unions, start your checkbooks: The Supreme Court’s rollback of a 100-year-old ban on corporate spending in elections will mean an even larger torrent of TV commercials and direct mail come election time.
It was a ruling seen as good for Republicans and bad for Democrats, although the AFL-CIO also pushed for the decision.
Fred Wertheimer, founder campaign finance reform group Democracy 21, wrote in the New York Times:
Today’s Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case is a
disaster for the American people. It will unleash unprecedented amounts
of corporate “influence-seeking” money on our elections and create
unprecedented opportunities for corporate “influence-buying”
corruption.
Politico noted that Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold, whose eponymous campaign finance reform bill was partially gutted by the ruling, “had divergent reactions – perhaps reflecting the impact the ruling may have on each of their parties.” McCain said he was “disappointed”; Feingold called it a “terrible mistake” to “roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president.”
Now that the Supremes have spoken, look for a mad scramble as corporations, unions, and assorted political players assess the new groundrules and attempt to extract maximum advantage for the midterm elections.
