Jul

25

Re: The $50 Million Dollar Dems

The issue of campaign finance reform is an important one for Greens. The spending of money in campaigns restricts and hurts one of the Green Party’s Four Pillars, Grassroots Democracy. It also directly affects Green campaigns in further tipping the playing field towards those candidates supported by big money players.

It seems that many of the ‘527′ organizations, Move.on, The League of Conservation Voters, etc. wish to take the role that some minor parties do in ‘fusion’ states; i.e. influencing elections not by running candidates but by backing major party candidates - and they are doing so in the worse way, not by grassroots organizing but by taking large sums of money from a few individuals and throwing into the election process.

Though some of these minor parties are just ‘patronage machines,’ organized and organizing to reward a small group with patronage jobs, they were at least restricted by election laws so that their enrollees could potentially have a say, and fall under comprehensive campaign finance rules that limit how and how much a donor can give. ‘527′ groups don’t fall under FEC regulations and can accept unlimited contributions from anybody.

No matter what positions on issues these groups take, or which candidates they support, this infusion into campaigns of large sums of money from a small group of people is not good for democracy. -Roger

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