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TechnoratiDemocrats and Republicans Will Party Hard On Soft Money
WASHINGTON - When delegates travel to the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions late this summer, they'll enter a cocoon of corporate largesse. Democrats will fly to Denver on reduced-fare tickets provided by United Airlines. Many will be picked up in plush new vehicles donated by General Motors that run on fuel made from "waste beer" donated by Molson Coors Brewing Co.
Like their GOP counterparts, they'll communicate using state-of-the-art technology provided by Microsoft, Google, Qwest or AT&T. And they'll party at corporate-funded events surrounding a carefully calibrated convention that has become, basically, a multimillion-dollar infomercial underwritten by corporations and lobbyists whose influence both presidential candidates decry.
But for Democrats, at least, this may be the last year for such massive corporate funding. Presidential candidate Barack Obama says he wants things to change.
In a statement provided Tuesday to The Times, Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan said: "Moving forward, one of Sen. Obama's reform priorities will include changes in the way party conventions are funded to assure they can be run without dependence on soft money," the loosely restricted corporate and union donations that constitute most of the funding for conventions.
That contrasts with GOP presidential candidate John McCain, who also has sought to cast himself as a reformer where money in politics is concerned. He sees no urgent need to revamp the way conventions are funded.
"John McCain believes that it is drastically more important to reform our country's energy policy, tax code and the wasteful way the federal government treats taxpayer money than it is to try and provide further prohibitions on an entity [the convention host committee] that is already barred from political activity by law," said McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds, responding to Obama's statement about funding conventions.
Both candidates pointed out that the convention funding system was in place long before they became their parties' presumptive nominees.
Each party's host committee is charged with raising more than $40 million, and the members of those committees and their informal advisors -- including the governors and other elected officials from Colorado, where Democrats will gather, and Minnesota, which will host the Republicans -- have met repeatedly with corporate donors, offering them perks in exchange for donations as high as $5 million.
Meanwhile, federal, state and local officials are dealing with a wide range of issues important to the contributing corporations -- energy conglomerates, manufacturers, health insurers, telecommunications firms and others that have already spent millions of dollars on lobbying this year.
Talking points prepared for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty before meeting with corporate officials in 2007 included a promise that donors to the host committee would have the opportunity to "connect with influential government officials (cabinet, president, next president)."
Pawlenty's talking points were reproduced in a report on convention fundraising by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute. The institute also reported that the host committee for the Democrats' convention in Denver produced a "corporate sponsorship packet" that said donors giving more than $250,000 would be invited to "private events" with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., Sen. Ken Salazar, Rep. Diana DeGette, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and others.
An upcoming report from the Campaign Finance Institute, which could be released as soon as today, will show that the more than 100 corporations and one labor union contributing to one or both conventions have spent more than $700 million on lobbying since 2005. They have also provided almost $100 million in campaign contributions through political action committees and individuals.
What makes special-interest funding of conventions especially awkward for McCain and Obama are the high-profile positions they have taken on money in politics.
McCain was the lead author of the 2002 campaign finance legislation banning large, corporate "soft money" donations in federal races. And he has limited lobbyists' participation on his campaign staff as a way of strengthening his credentials as a reformer.
Yet the conventions are effectively funded through what campaign reformers call "the last soft money loophole," the provision that allows corporate contributions to a convention's host committee.
Obama has banned federal lobbyists from donating to his campaign or working on his official staff. Yet those lobbyists and their bosses are being asked to provide large checks for the conventions.
Convention budgets have risen dramatically in recent years; the conventions cost 14 times more than they did in 1992. With nominees normally chosen long before delegates convene, the conventions essentially have become huge -- and hugely expensive -- pep rallies for party activists and television infomercials designed to attract voters.
The parties construct multimillion-dollar podiums, build skyboxes for big donors and rehearse elaborately choreographed made-for-TV demonstrations and video presentations.
The person in charge of coming up with the money to fund the Democrats' convention, Steven Farber, is a federal lobbyist. Farber, a partner at the law firm of Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Schreck, which has offices in Denver and Washington, remains $11.6 million short of the $40.6 million the Denver host committee pledged to raise to help fund the convention, which has a budget of about $70 million.
Corporate contributions overall to the two parties' conventions amounted to just $1 million in 1980 and $8 million in 1992. The amount rose to $56 million in 2000 and $142 million in 2004, according to the Campaign Finance Institute's report. This year, the report says, these contributions are expected to total $112 million but could go higher.
Denver convention officials have asked the Obama campaign for help. The campaign has not yet responded, and activists are watching closely.
Obama faces a dilemma. He has become the most proficient candidate in history at raising small donations from individuals. But if Obama asks for more money in the form of large checks from corporations or unions, he could undermine the credibility of his call for reform.
In theory, the 2002 reform law permitted corporate contributions to convention host committees because they were bipartisan groups set up to boost the host city's image.
However, a look at who actually raises the funds shows that partisan elected officials on these committees often take the lead, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. And the contributions often come from companies with extensive political interests and regulatory issues.
Republicans flying to St. Paul will get discounted airfares courtesy of Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines. Minnesota-based United HealthCare is also donating to both conventions. Waste Management Inc., which has operations in Minnesota and Colorado, will help with recycling and trash removal at the conventions.
General Motors is offering in-kind support to both conventions. It has donated cars to the presidential nominating conventions since 1980.
In Denver, a select group of elected officials, former candidates and party chairs, among others, will have access to 450 new GM SUVs and passenger cars, some with volunteer drivers. For the GOP convention, the automaker is furnishing 285 vehicles, a mix of SUVS, vans and passenger cars.
The GM gifts could be especially sticky for Obama. On the stump, he often points to his 2007 address to the Detroit Economic Club, in which he told automakers that they shared responsibility for the nation's oil dependence and called for higher fuel standards. "Nobody clapped," he likes to say.
Similarly, the convention nominating McCain will feature donations from telecommunications firms that have long lobbied the senator and his staff because of his role as a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission.
Both candidates have railed against drug company pricing, yet several drug companies, including Merck, Lilly and Pfizer, are listed as sponsors of the Democratic convention.
© 2008 The Los Angeles Times
25 Comments so far
Show AllSurrender June 18th, 2008 1:05 pm ......usavsus.info
The incestuous relationship between government and corporate America will continue as long as the masses choose to only vote in presidential elections and remain ignorant of what's happening locally. Nader isn't the answer any more than McCain or Obama are. Nader is a distraction. McKinney is a distraction. Whether it's Clinton, Bush, McKinney, Nader, Obama, Kucinich, McCain or any of the myriad politicos that enjoy the warm glow of the spotlight it's only profitable for them and terrible for us.
Our dollars do the voting. Don't like GM's power, don't buy a GM. Think Humana is a sham, find another insurer. Think BSB is a global financial tyrant., invest in a Credit Union. Think buying contaminated produce from CA isn't a good idea then invest in Community Supported Agriculture. Dump your investments in Apple, Google, and Disney. Buy stocks in socially responsible, environmentally conscientious, community-minded companies. Join a cooperative. Better yet, create one.
Take back the power our parents and grandparents gave the government over the last hundred or so years. Start community dialog circles. Write articles for your local paper. Teach your children what the schools are afraid to teach because of the federal dollars that dictate curriculum. Point is let's take the time to put our votes, our dollars, and our energies where they'll make a difference.
Corruption starts with the first free cigar. If they are sucking on the K-Street teats they can't be 'representing' the People.
Corporate campaign funding means the death of the republic and the death of democracy.
It's called bribery and graft. Don't think it doesn't matter, or it's somehow necessary in our democracy, or the candidates will ignore their corporate contributors once in office.
We keep hearing that Obama doesn't accept lobbyist money. A peek at his millions in funding shows a long list of corporations shelling out the cash. McCain's got Cindy's beer money, but he really doesn't need it.
Public interests will be subordinated to the will of the corporate interests that slapped the money down. In most cases, corporations hedged their bets - funding both the Republican and Democratic candidates, just to be sure.
Don't vote for them. You don't have any chips in this casino. To be loyal to a corporate machine is to be a fool. When candidates are corporate shills, that means there will be no single-payer healthcare. It means perpetual wars. It's entirely predictable.
The political geeks in the picture look like they are riding bikes for the first time. Have they never been outside a car? Well, I guess aside from being pampered and receiving money -- everything else in life is a first time event!
Until the most powerful among us have to live in situations comparable to the most disadvantaged of our populous there will be no real change and no real impetus to change. It sure is easy to talk about the world's hungry over a bottle of hundred dollar wine and upscale dinner that is being served to you by someone who is kissing your ass and waiting on you hand and foot. Let's drag them all from their McMansions and expose them to the realities that everyday Americans face- such as foregoing certain meals in order to assure that there will be enough gas money in order to get to work tomorrow. The bribery and lack of accountability are appalling, but the disconnect that has developed between our elected officials (and the Bush administration as well) and the majority of the populous of this country is such an embarassment that most people don't even take the time to think about it and how such a house of cards can continue to hold.
Look, if I can just have one last drink I'll quit. Promise.
hi nebraska green
i am a member of the green party down here in houston. our web site is www.hcgp.org. i would like to go to the national convention in chicago but i have a few things going on here.
i hope cynthia mckinney wins the green party nomination. she is the real candidate for change in the u.s. and is against this criminal war in iraq.
By contrast, I'm working extra time to pay my own way as a delegate to Green Party national convention in Chicago in July. I'm not complaining about doing that either, the alternative is the corporate hog trough we see above.
The bikes are just window dressing that can be used for barriers if the pepper spray doesn't work.
In the photo, at least two of the four seem to be having a very hard time controlling their bikes and in general look like they've never been on a bike before. Take a politician away from their limos and they look like fish out of water.
CSA has been used before. Confederate States of America.
Of course, there's the common ground in that the Corporate States of America would also like anything as close to slavery as they can get.
To connect the dots, also read the other article on the left side of CD that talks about the Denver PD spending money to buy new pepper spray guns to use on any other citizens besides this corporate royalty who might want to 'connect' or 'speak' or 'petition their government for the redress of greivances'.
If you represent corporate interests, you'll be chaffuered to a private party with the Democrats so they can hear your issues and concerns. If you do not represent corporate interests you'll be met with riot police and pepper spray.
Clear enough, right?
And I'll believe Obama when I see it happen. My guess is that four years from now it will still be the same. After all, this is the guy who goes around claiming not to take money from 'corporate lobbyiists' while taking in money from corporations hand-over-foot by any other means not covered by this very specific and misleading language. So, as always with the Dems I need to see ACTION and I discount any words.
go immediately to http://www.votenader.org. do not pass go and send your $200 to nader - but only if you REALLY want change...
That still does not change my perception about the Democrats
Quick, someone open the manhole covers! Four fewer Democrats. Hooray, er darn!
A little sugar goes a long way...er...or stops your HUMV cold.
In Denver, a select group of elected officials, former candidates and party chairs, among others, will have access to 450 new GM SUVs and passenger cars, some with volunteer drivers. For the GOP convention, the automaker is furnishing 285 vehicles, a mix of SUVS, vans and passenger cars.
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So if you are a big shot you get a GM gas hog and if not you get to ride a bike? My my, how the mighty have fallen! I wonder if Nike will volunteer walking shoes and workout gear complete with swooshes for those not of sufficient status to either ride in a GM gas hog or on a Humana bike.
Why should this surprise anyone? Humana routinely denies medical claims; as this article demonstrates the payoffs to Democratic and Republican representitives is more important than saving the lives of their insured. Any politician who accepts ought to be hung by the neck until dead.
I'm just glad I no longer live in Denver anymore. Denver has had a brown-cloud problem to start with, and now, with all the extra traffic; planes, cars, limos, air conditioning in hotels, trucks for all the extra necessities that these people are going to consume, etc....
Ick.
At the core of all this is the pursuit and banking of POWER. It is the insatiable, seductive drug that provides the flooring for all the corruption we now experience. Human beings have not evolved to the point where they can co-exist and use power in healthful proportions or ways. Until that time comes, the march of folly and madness will continue -- so will the wars over its pursuit. Militarism will continue as a means toward powers' ends. The very best of civil governments will regulate it understanding that those first in line to pursue it are often the least evolved to handle it.
My two cents.
Why don't they just vote to LEGALLY change the name of this country to the Corporate States of Amerika (C.S.A.) and call it like it is. i truly wish I had the money to become ex-pat. Oh! That's right! It hasn't "trickled down" to me as yet.
There's a lot to be said for parliamentary democracy, and an appointed constitutional leader with no power other than signing the laws. It's a sad commentary that they'll do more for themselves at these two events than will ever be done for the poor and close to poor of this country.
"Change we can count on", eh? What a joke. Run Ralph. Run!
Further demonstrating that the Dems and Repugs are both parties of, by and for the rich. Disgusting. How many hungry people could be fed with the millions these fat cats will be dining on?