Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Exclusive: How Corporations SECRETLY Move Millions for Political Ads

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU
 
Segami Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-04-10 09:41 AM
Original message
Exclusive: How Corporations SECRETLY Move Millions for Political Ads
The Supreme Court’s seismic January ruling that corporations are free to spend unlimited amounts of their profits to advertise for or against candidates may have been the latest shakeup of campaign finance – but gaping holes already allow corporations to spend enormous sums without leaving a paper trail, a Raw Story investigation has found.


Campaign finance experts confirmed that though disclosure rules remained intact in the new Supreme Court decision, there are effective methods to circumvent them.


Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an attorney and campaign finance expert at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, said corporations already effectively end-run campaign finance law by shuffling money through trade associations.


“One of their favorites right now is spending through trade associations,” Torres-Spelliscy said.


Trade associations are considered tax-exempt non-profit organizations under US law. While they must report contributions received from other corporations to the Internal Revenue Service, the document itself remains confidential and is not made available to the public.


“Money coming through the trade association doesn’t get disclosed,” Torres-Spelliscy explained. “You can’t tell if it came from particular corporations.”


For example, she said, “The disclaimer form is likely to just say, ‘This is brought to you by the Chamber of Commerce,’ with no extra ability to see behind that.”


The Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest trade association representing more than three million businesses and organizations.


A fellow non-profit that works on campaign finance, the Center for Political Accountability, calls trade associations “the Swiss bank accounts of American politics.”


“What was the lesson from Watergate?” Torres-Spelliscy quipped. “Follow the money?”<'b>



more


<http://rawstory.com/2010/02/exclusive-trade-groups-swiss-bank-accounts-campaign-finance/>
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
Vinnie From Indy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-04-10 09:52 AM
Response to Original message
1. Add to that the recent development of reporting election propaganda as news
and you have the perfect plutocracy stew. FOX News routinely runs tens of millions of dollars of naked, blatant political ads under the guise of reporting news. The Swiftboat affair during the 2004 elections is a great example. The Swiftboaters spent less than 100k to put out their claims and the mainstream media took over from there. After it was all said and done, the Swiftboaters parlayed their 100k investment into tens of millions of dollars in FREE advertising on America's mainstream media outlets. The "Birther" phenomena is the same in many respects. One other glaring example of media bias is the fact that the GW Bush AWOL story was never given a FRACTION of the coverage in the media that the Swiftboaters, the Birthers and the Teabaggers have received. To me the most astonishing aspect of this issue is the nakedness of it all.

Now, with the floodgates open for corporations to dominate our political system, we are truly entering the "Age of the Corporation" in human history.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Blue_Tires Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-04-10 09:54 AM
Response to Original message
2. after the USSC ruling, they won't even have to be that subtle now...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Segami Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-04-10 10:05 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. He who controls the ' media ' controls the ' message '. Instead of spoon size message bites, NOW,
it will be administered to the sleeping public using a funnel.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
supernova Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-04-10 10:47 AM
Response to Original message
4. Trade Associations are the secret to the D.C. gravy train
You could build an entire social life around trade association parties, dinner parties, cocktails, get-togethers, golfing weekends at swanky resorts. and on, and on, and on.

They wine and dine our reps just like drug company reps wine and dine docs, except on a far larger scale.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun May 05th 2024, 12:21 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC