Hello folks. I wanted to highlight this must-read story from the New York Times, Small Pool of Rich Donors Dominates Election Giving, which gets right to the heart of the rising power of the richest to dominate our elections.
Fewer than four hundred families are responsible for almost half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign, a concentration of political donors that is unprecedented in the modern era.
The article, based on recent Federal Election Commission & IRS reports, is accompanied by two excellent graphics, that cover
the biggest individual donors and the recipients of their largesse (mostly to Republicans, of course), and
which candidates are raking in the most
Even if you don't read the article, check the graphics.
It's pretty frightening.
“The question is whether we are in a new Gilded Age or well beyond it — to a Platinum Age,” said Michael J. Malbin, president of the Campaign Finance Institute, which tracks the flow of campaign money.
One of the donors speaks for himself.
“In the donor world, it is primarily a love of economic freedom,” said Chart Westcott, a Dallas private equity investor who has contributed $200,000 to Unintimidated PAC, a group backing Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. “That’s the biggest drive for most donors — more prosperity for the country as a whole, as well as for themselves.”
That's whose paying for our elections - self-centered believers in wrong-headed economics.
As a rule, almost all of the Republican money comes via very large donations to SuperPACs and much less in smaller donations (under $2700, I believe) to the actual campaigns . E.g., Jeb Bush has pulled in $120 million, only $11 million of which came through campaign. The opposite is true for Democrats. Hillary Clinton, the Dem pulling in the most, got $47 million through her campaign and $20 million from SuperPACs. Bernie Sanders, of course, has no SuperPAC at all.
The top-five money raisers (SuperPAC + campaign $) are, in order, Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Mario Rubio, and Bernie Sanders (doing it old school).
The guy who's gotten the biggest individual donations is clown car favorite Ted Cruz:
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, has raised the most cash from the fewest donors. A collection of super PACs supporting Mr. Cruz raised $37 million, nearly all of it from three families. Robert Mercer, a deeply private hedge fund investor from New York, contributed $11 million, making him the top known political donor in the country so far this election cycle.
The Wilks family of Texas, which earned billions in the fracking boom, gave $15 million to back Mr. Cruz’s bid. Toby Neugebauer, a private equity investor in Puerto Rico — a home he adopted two years ago that has more favorable tax laws — gave $10 million.
The people giving the most money include energy company owners, financiers, sports team owners, and frackers.
It's nuts. These people have orders of magnitude more say in the make-up of our government than we do.