My Choices 1 (Premiere Piece for the Premier Amendment)
By: Matt Bell
Tags: Missouri, Midterms, Politics, Campaign Finance, Voting

My Choices 1 (Premiere Piece for the Premier Amendment)

YES on Amendment 1 to Tackle Corruption in Politics

Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1871 (Public Domain)

It just makes sense to start at 1. It’s basic, the pilot, the premiere.

Particularly this year, though, 1 is as important as it’s ever been, affecting the ability of every other “number” to get anything done of any consequence. I’m talking, of course, about Amendment 1, which seeks to to rein in the influence of lobbyists and mega-donors in Jefferson City. I’m going to vote for it, because Missouri is long overdue for serious anti-corruption reform.

A little background, first. Surely, you already know there’s corrupt and corporate money in politics, even here in Missouri. And that rich donors and lobbyists have so much more influence over public policy than those of us without a cool billion.

What you may not know, though, is that Missouri’s government is exceptionally, and blatantly, corrupt, and in a number of ways.

I’m going to start this with one of several problems — the loopholes that allow the super-wealthy to circumvent campaign finance limits through a complex web of nonprofits and political action committees (“PACs”) — just because it’s the one that gets me most worked up. Through these organizations, the richest Missourians are able to buy politicians and exert enormous influence on public policy, campaign contribution limits be damned.

“selective focus photography of spiderweb” by Nicolas Picard on Unsplash

To best illustrate the PAC problem in Missouri, let’s conjure up two potential campaign donors. The first (let’s call her “Terry”) is a prominent personal injury lawyer who nets about $500,000 per year. The second (let’s call him “Rex”) is a semi-retired billionaire and libertarian activist. Both support Bob Jones for governor.

Now — Terry certainly doesn’t reflect the average voter. Because of her personal wealth, what she needs and expects out of politicians are likely different from, say, the needs and expectations of her office manager. But, because Terry has money to throw at politicians and issue campaigns, she can exert more influence over public policy.

Until recently, Terry’s ability to make such donations was limited only by her imagination — she could throw twenty or thirty thousand dollars at Bob Jones and fund a healthy portion of his campaign. Which, of course, would make Bob very interested in making Terry happy.

“100 US dollar banknote” by Vladimir Solomyani on Unsplash

Back in 2016, though, Missouri voters approved a $5,200 limit (per election cycle, per candidate) on campaign donations. Now, Terry can’t concentrate her donations like before, buying so much influence from an individual politician. And politicians, in turn, have less incentive to spend all their efforts on rich constituents at the expense of poor and working-class voters.

Missouri’s contribution caps make sense, and they work. Unless — perversely — you’re WAY RICHER than Terry.

Take our billionaire, Rex. Technically, he’s subject to the same individual contribution limit as Terry. But Rex spends a lot more money on each of the politicians he funds. All he has to do is launder it through some PACs.

“photo of empty laundy shop” by Bianca Jordan on Unsplash

You see — anyone can form any number of PACs, which are subject to the same contribution limits as individuals. And, when you form those PACs, there’s nothing to prevent you from single-handedly funding each and every one of them. Nor is there any law that prevents PACs from transferring unlimited amounts of money to other PACs.

So, Rex forms five different PACs, each with names like “Missourians for Freedom,” or “Missourians for Safe Streets” (Rex really likes the word “Missourians” in his PACs). He personally writes each PAC a check for $500,000. He also has two PACs left over from the last election (formed to oppose those campaign contribution limits, say), which each transfer $30,000 to the new PACs.

Then, each of the new PACs sends Bob Jones a check for $5,200. Even though the $5,200 limit technically applies to him, Rex, using only his money, just gave Bob Jones’s campaign $26,000. And it was 100% legal.