Walter Shapiro: The Campaign-Industrial Complex | Washington Monthly
In truth, the real victims are not the well-heeled donors but every candidate with a shred of idealism who falls under the sway of his or her campaign consultants. Let me explain the connection—and how it relates back to a problem that was identified so shrewdly and so depressingly by Lessig. The most tainted money in politics is not the first million that a candidate raises but the last. The more desperate a candidate, the more willing he is to put ethical beliefs in a blind trust and accept money that comes with wink and nod strings attached. As Lessig writes, “Influence happens on the margin, and the most powerful are the contributors who stand there.” The more money that the press and the consultants claim is required to run a competitive race, the more likely a candidate is going to brush up against the yellow line to get it. That is what has been happening in recent years as the cost of running for president or for the Senate and the House has doubled or even tripled since 2004.
The depressing result is twentyfirst- century electoral politics—where money talks and everyone else listens. Is this political fundraising system completely impervious to nonlegislative change? Maybe, just maybe, demanding that campaigns publicly release their contractual a rangements with consultants could put the brakes on the current hyperinflation in the cost of running for major public office. The press certainly lacks the power to obtain these records, and campaigns themselves are unlikely to practice voluntary disclosure beyond what is required by the FEC. But there is one group that may have the market power to change the way that campaigns conduct their internal financial business. Wealthy ideological givers in both parties who live outside the Washington lobbying community should have no incentive to see their money blown on overpaid and underperforming political consultants. Such donors would not tolerate this sort of hidden insider dealing when supporting an art museum or a university. Why should they be any less responsible in their political philanthropy?
-
circlingtheroundabout posted this
