Who knows what other such gems predator lobbyists buried in those over 2200 pages of abstruse legal language, all scurrying from the disinfecting effect of sunlight? These are provisions that those pretending to be legislators in a democracy most likely neither understood nor even read before rubber-stamping them for their paymasters.
2. The Rake for Politicians
In exchange for such favors for plutocrats in various sectors, Congress, while in the holiday spirit, also included some gifts for themselves. Political corruption is massive enough to constitute its own economic sector, capable of receiving its own gifts from Santa. Like last year's Christmastime for Wall Street exercise, the house also captured its percentage rake on its payouts to plutocrats comparable to the ten-fold increase in party-contribution limits.
NYU's Brennan Center reports that "Citizens United has enabled election spending by a variety of 'dark money' groups who do not disclose their donors, and who have spent more than $600 million on federal elections to date." Forced disclosure of "dark money" political investments by government contractors and some others for whom secrecy is paramount would have shut down a sizable part of this industry. Prohibiting disclosure helps perpetuate and increase such dark-money expenditures in the form of investments in the incumbents who just voted for their tax giveaways and other breaks.
Michael Hiltzik described in the LA Times how, "Two provisions buried in the 2,009-page bill ... emasculate efforts by the Internal Revenue Service and Securities and Exchange Commission to force public disclosure of donations by individuals and corporations." This kind of provision was so well buried that Hiltzik missed a third key provision, at least equally as important, that prevents the president from using disclosure requirements for enforcing federal procurement law. All federal procurement, another large pool of public money, is already on the Capital's auction block. Disclosure of the contributions might have required Obama to begin enforcing the law against such political investments.
Federal procurement law can be read, in accordance with international best practice, to ban what the Supreme Court deems to be "independent" political investments in politicians by corporate government contractors. A long-existing FECA provision, titled "Contributions by government contractors," prohibits contractors "directly or indirectly to make any contribution ... to any person for any political purpose or use." 52 U.S. Code 30119(a)(1). "Dark money" independent expenditures enabled by Citizens United are mostly "indirect" contributions made in violation of this law. Since government contractors are among the largest of political racketeers this ban alone could have canceled a large part of the problem of money in politics created by Citizens United.
There has been much agitation for Obama to use this administrative power under the general theory that disclosure of legalized corruption can make a positive difference. In the case of procurement, disclosure actually could make a substantial difference. One study showed that for each $5.3 million in government contracts (107 average contracts) politicians receive an additional $201,220 in campaign contributions. Since there is a total of over $500 billion of annual federal procurement, this one profit center alone accounts for at least $2 billion worth of kickbacks to politicians.
Obama has not only violated his constitutional responsibility by refusing to enforce this law against these largest of corporations used by plutocrats for making political investments. Obama has also refused to take even the most modest step of requiring such contractors to simply disclose their Citizens United expenditures as a condition of doing business with the government. This would be a "necessary and proper" enforcement tool for a law designed to foster effective governance.
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