{"id":52018,"date":"2015-08-01T19:09:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T19:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/01\/us-elections-show-me-the-money.html"},"modified":"2015-08-01T19:09:27","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T19:09:27","slug":"us-elections-show-me-the-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/01\/us-elections-show-me-the-money.html","title":{"rendered":"US Elections: Show Me the Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we start to watch the money rolling into the Presidential Election of 2016 … the results are not encouraging except for the biggest-bucked of donors. (Emphasis mine):<\/p>\n

'The 67 biggest donors, each of whom gave $1 million or more, donated more than <\/i>three times as much<\/i><\/b> as the 508,000 smallest donors combined, according to a POLITICO analysis of reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.<\/i><\/p>\n

The 67 mega-donors accounted for <\/i>$128 million<\/i><\/b> in cash to super PACs supporting specific 2016 presidential candidates. In all, POLITICO’s analysis found that 29 super PACS and other big-money non-profits dedicated to the candidates combined to raise <\/i>$271 million from 9,500 donors, for an average donation of $29,000.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

'On the ledger’s other side, the analysis found that donors who gave $200 or less to the candidates’ campaigns (and whose donations are estimated at $75 each) combined to donate <\/i>$38 million<\/i><\/b> to the campaigns of the 21 announced candidates.'<\/i><\/p>\n

So whose interests are these campaigns going to most reflect? If money is speech, whose voices are drowning out the others?<\/p>\n

And what, if anything, can be done about it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\n67 donors and gusher of cash change 2016 race<\/a><\/span>
\nThe flood of seven-figure contributions to outside groups supporting presidential candidates — officially reported for the first time Friday — illustrates in stark terms how the unprecedented political buying power of wealthy donors has fundamentally shifted U.S. presidential campaigns. The 67 biggest donors, each of whom gave $1 million…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we start to watch the money rolling into the Presidential Election of 2016 … the results are not encouraging except for the biggest-bucked of donors. (Emphasis mine): 'The 67 biggest donors, each of whom gave $1 million or more, donated more than three times as much as the 508,000 smallest donors combined, according to … Continue reading “US Elections: Show Me the Money”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46209,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/03\/if-money-is-speech-its-clear-whos-dominating-the-conversation.html","url_meta":{"origin":52018,"position":0},"title":"If money is speech, it's clear who's dominating the conversation","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Nov-14 8:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"Just 42 donors are responsible for a third of all Super PAC contributions this year. All are older and white, and 35 of them are men.Does money determine elections? No, not in every case. But it sure doesn't hurt (as proof of which look at how much is spent and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132455,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/27\/the-independent-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":52018,"position":1},"title":"The Independent President","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Dec-16 10:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember back when Trump was proudly self-funding his campaign, so that he wouldn't be beholden to all the corrupt monied interests he said he was running against, and could \"drain the swamp\" of big money in Washington?'\u201cBy self-funding my campaign, I am not controlled by my donors, special interests or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29035,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/07\/they-prefer-a-muddy-line-thank-you-very-much.html","url_meta":{"origin":52018,"position":2},"title":"They prefer a muddy line, thank you very much","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Aug-12 10:50am","format":false,"excerpt":"GOP lawmakers are concerned the IRS might actually set for some rules on how much money \"social welfare\" organizations (501(c)(4)) can plow instead into political campaigns, with their donors retaining anonymity.Of course, setting rules and enforcing them are two different things, sadly.Reshared post from +Talking Points MemoThe battle over super\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28881,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/13\/all-the-election-advertising-if-not-election-itself-money-can-buy.html","url_meta":{"origin":52018,"position":3},"title":"All the election advertising (if not election itself) money can buy","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Aug-12 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sure, campaign spending can't guarantee victory, but some pretty clever people seem to think it's a good investment.Reshared post from +Jim Feig Embedded Link Two Dark Money Groups Outspending All Super PACs Combined Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, a group backed by the Koch brothers, have put\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131246,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/12\/the-problem-with-the-gop-shifting-money-away-from-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":52018,"position":4},"title":"The problem with the GOP shifting money away from Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 12-Aug-16 3:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump has done a remarkable job of not spending any money in this year's campaign. During the primaries he relied mostly on his own deep pockets (albeit funneling a lot of that money to companies he owns). In his post-nomination period, he's done a lot of fund-raising -- big\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129480,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/13\/guns-and-politics.html","url_meta":{"origin":52018,"position":5},"title":"Guns and Politics","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Jan-16 8:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So ... an interesting correlation between state political leaning and state rate of gun deaths per capita. Mapping Gun Deaths by US States' Political Leanings (2) By analyzing publicly available data on political contributions, Crowdpac's algorithm calculates objective political ideology scores for candidates, donors, organizations... View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}