Russ Feingold: “Even worse than we expected”

[babylonsister]

Feingold: “Even worse than we expected”
Russ Feingold tells Salon the post-Citizens United world is "even more shameless" than he imagined
By Alex Seitz-Wald


Former Sen. Russ Feingold is one of the country’s most outspoken voices on campaign finance reform, spearheading several major pieces of legislation to clean up money in politics during his time in Washington. He continues that work today with the group he founded, ProgressivesUnited. As we get close to Election Day and have seen the impact of the Citizens United decision on the first presidential campaign since the Supreme Court handed down the ruling, Feingold spoke with Salon about how campaign finance has changed for the worse and what can be done to fix the system. This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity.

So far we’ve seen at least $600 million spent on ads in this election cycle, almost half of which has been from outside groups. That’s certainly unprecedented, but has the fallout from Citizens United really been as bad as people like you predicted?

Even worse than we expected. I expected it to be very bad, but I thought it would have taken a little longer and there would have been a little more concern on the part of these special interests and corporations that this could hurt them economically in the long run if their participation is revealed. There’s been almost a shameless quality to it.

They’re being egged on by consultants, media firms and media outlets that basically get all this money. I think we sometimes forget that it’s not just those who want to influence elections or have their candidates win, but there’s a huge pot of gold here with regard to those who actually get the money. It’s like a giant bubble, almost like a Wall Street kind of bubble. It has grossly altered our system of government. We don’t have the kind of elections that most of us grew up seeing.

How have the consequences been different than you expected? Anything surprising?

Just even more shameless than I would have imagined. Take someone like Adelson. The notion that Paul Ryan, pretending to sort of be of the working people of Janesville, Wis., within hours of being nominated for vice president runs out to meet with Sheldon Adelson. It’s obscene! You know, I would have thought they would have been a little more concerned about the optics. There’s a shamelessness to it. It’s the same thing with telling the truth — some people, especially on the right, don’t think it matters. It goes against everything I’ve ever believed in politics. So the combination of falsehoods and unlimited, undisclosed money is exceptionally bad and even worst than I thought it would be.

more...

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/22/even_worse_than_we_expected/

[longship]

1. Good read here. Worth the click through. nt

R&

[hue]

2. We really need to get this word out to the general public repeatedly!!

[dreampunk]

3. the combination of falsehoods and unlimited, undisclosed money is exceptionally bad

I love Feingold to death, but why oh WHY do these hugely important people on the progressive side have such a hard time saying the word LIAR. FALSEHOODS MY ACHING ASS. UNTRUTHS. They are full of words other than LIAR that they like to use. I don't know if they realize it or not but most of us do not use these words. We call a liar a liar and be done with it. "falsehoods" WTF is that some new kind of sweatshirt?

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

5. Exactamundo! Thank you.

It makes me sick. These 'synonyms' detract from the clarity and conviction of the criticism. Fucking, Cocksucking LIARS is what they is!

[malaise]

4. Good read

K & R

[Hubert Flottz]

6. K&R

[starroute]

7. I keep getting the feeling that it's all a scam

With the Romney campaign faltering as badly as it has been, the whole operation is looking more and more like a machine for extracting money from well-heeled donors and paying it out on campaign staff, consultants, lobbyists, PR firms, and weekend retreats for well-connected supporters.

It's kind of like the missile defense system of politics -- a boondoggle that will never produce a viable weapons system but is useful for channeling taxpayer money into private pockets. Only in the case of Romney, it goes from one set of private pockets to another.

I suppose that as a system of redistribution from the ultra-wealthy to the merely affluent it has its uses. But I can't help thinking that the Kochs and Adelsons are going to start getting the feeling they're being ripped off and be more careful with their pennies in the future.

[dreamnightwind]

9. Interesting thought but I think the opposite is true

It's not a system for moving money from the ultra-wealthy to the merely wealthy, it's the opposite.

I see where your idea comes from, the poorly run and apparently losing campaign of Romney, seemingly wasting the money of people like Adelson and Koch. And, in that limited scope, your idea might be true, though I think not, they establish themselves as major players in the king-maker tradition, and even in a losing cause they put up candidates (such as Santorum and Ryan) who will unashamedly catapult their propaganda into the national discussion, so people like Adelson and Koch can view even a loss as an investment for future battles.

But the larger picture is the more important one here, and in that picture the new unlimited funding for political "speech" is all about transferring wealth and power into the pockets of the ultra-wealthy. And it's happening in both parties, not just on the Republican side, though certainly worse on their side. I watched Up with Chris Hayes today and the conversations about "donor maintenance" (giving your donors what they expect) was disturbing. They tried to downplay the Dems' side of this, saying Obama for instance was more dependent on small donations, but the fact is that it's the large donors who get their needs met, the small ones just a thank you very much email.

[ananda]

8. Kick!

And Dems, please give Pelos the house majority
she needs to roll back CU.

[dreamnightwind]

10. K & R

This issue cannot get enough attention.

What's Feingold doing in 2016? I could support someone like that.