In wake of $10 billion election, campaign reform is needed
Hopefully by the time you are reading this, the 2024 election season will be nothing more than an unpleasant memory.
Gone will be the constant barrage of campaign messaging across every imaginable medium from multiple daily fundraising texts, countless emails, robocalls calls during Packers games, and mailboxes stuffed with inflammatory and, at times, vaguely threatening mailers letting you know your neighbors are watching how you will vote.
Gone will be the yard signs, billboards, door knockers and airwaves crowded with pundits and prognosticating pollsters. Although by the time these pages hit the press, they may have already shifted to what the election results mean for races two or four years from now.
In the place of this constant barrage of campaign stump speeches and meme-worthy sound bites, there will be a blessed silence as the country pauses to take a breath after running a marathon that for all practical purposes started in 2011.
The 2012 presidential race was the first national level race following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizen’s United vs. FEC. That infamous decision struck down century-old prohibitions on unfettered corporate and union spending in elections.
In the dozen years since that election, there has been an explosion in election spending. In 2012, more than $6 billion was spent on the presidential election campaign, in 2016 the amount climbed to $6.5 billion. In 2020, there was $9.02 billion spent and the projected total for 2024 is a mind-blowing $10.53 billion.
While candidates deliver soaring speeches to inspire followers or launch bombastic attacks to inflame their base, the reality is that the machinery of politics is fueled by a steady flow of billionaire and corporate donation dollars. One only needs to look back to President Joe Biden’s decision to bow out of his reelection campaign last summer after deeppocketed donors threatened to cut the Democrats off.
If mega corporations and deep-pocketed donors can use the power of the purse strings to dictate who is on major party tickets, what other decisions are being made based on those same purse strings?
In any business transaction, from a fast food drive through window to a billionaire buying another mega yacht, money is exchanged for goods and services. The American people should be concerned that the power of the purse strings will dictate policy more than the will of the people or the best interests of the country.
As we catch our collective breaths from the last election cycle, Americans must act to make changes to reduce the inherently corrupting influence of money in politics. Changes such as placing limits on the length of time active campaigning - and fundraising - can occur would be a good step. Any action would be fruitless until Citizens United is reversed either in the courts or through Congressional or constitutional action.
It is time to shut off the spigot of bottomless campaign spending from people whose interests lay more in benefiting their own bottom line than in leading America forward.
The Central Wisconsin Publications Editorial Board consists of publisher Kris O’Leary and editor Brian Wilson.
