WEBVTT - How Dark Money Works 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to you. Stuff you should know from House Stuff 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:14.240 Works dot com. Bush and Duccas on crime. Bush supports 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.200 the death penalty for first degree murderers. Du Concas not 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.480 only opposes the death penalty, he allowed first degree murderers 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.120 to have weekend passes from prison. One was Willie Horton, 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:27.280 who murdered a boy and a robbery, stabbing him nineteen times. 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.920 Despite a life sentence, Horton received ten weekend passes from prison. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.239 Horton fled, kidnapped a young couple, stabbing the man and 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:40.240 repeatedly raping his girlfriend. Weekend prison passes. Ducacas on crime, 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.840 Hey and welten to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, there's 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.760 Charles to Be, Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there. And 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.280 what you've just heard was something we brought back with 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:55.680 us from via the way back machine. An attack ad. 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:00.760 The attack AD from the election between George Trebert Walker 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:05.920 Bush and one Michael du Caucus and Uh. That ad 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.800 is widely credited as turning the tide against du Caucus's campaign, 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.080 which was doing pretty good at the time. Well, some 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.119 people say so, other people say depends on who you asked. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.640 Always dissent that's politics. As it turns out, there's always 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.240 more than one opinion. But the reason we bring up 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:32.040 this ad which UM first aired on September twenty one, nineteen. Yes, UM, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.200 it's called weekend Passes for obvious reasons, and it was 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:40.280 UM funded by something called the National Security Political Action 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:46.640 Committee And n s PACK was a non affiliated pro 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:52.080 Bush political action committee that was aimed at sinking du 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.800 Caucus and getting Bush elected. Yeah. I think one of 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:00.360 Bush's uh maybe it was his chief campaign guy said 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.320 by the time we're done, people are gonna think Willie 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.639 Horton is du Caucus is running mate. And it worked too. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.280 I mean, like still, if if you say the name 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.079 Willie Horton, people of a certain age e g. R 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.200 age can still say, oh I know who that is. Yeah. Well, quickly, 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.280 the story of Willie Horton is he was he was 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:24.639 in prison for murder, was furloughed as part of the 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:29.080 UH for a weekend as part of the Massachusetts furlough 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.480 program that was UM in effect at the time, and 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.960 he raped and killed somebody on this weekend pass on 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.640 the weekend pass, which was a big sign that it 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:43.200 may not be a good idea to furlow murders. I 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.480 guess they needed to test it out to find out 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.040 one way or another. But yeah, that pretty much closed 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.600 the book on it. And the thing was the Bush 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.240 campaign linked du Caucus is well, du Caucus himself with 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:58.600 the weekend passes and insinuated that he had come up 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.000 with this and that he was in support of it. Well, 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.200 he wasn't support of it. He didn't come up with 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.160 it though. Yeah, he inherited it from his Republican predecessor, 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.880 I believe. Yeah, it actually started in nine two, uh 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:14.399 with a Republican governor governor of Massachusetts, which apparently things 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.280 have been going fine up until then until Willie Horton 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.400 came along. Yeah, it kind of had a weird uh 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:25.480 along and winding road. Um. The initial program excluded first 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.919 degree murderers, and then the Supreme Court said, no, the 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:33.679 law doesn't specifically say that, so you can't exclude first 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.520 degree murders. So the legislature said, well, we gotta put 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.200 a stop to this, and we can't let first agree 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.080 murderers out on leave, and Ducacus vetoed that. So he 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.160 did support it until he decided to run for president, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.920 and that's when he said let's get this off. So 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:54.920 the n speck ad was very um widely criticized. It 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.400 was criticized as being misleading, It was criticized as fostering 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:04.080 racist attitudes. Um. And but it still worked. A lot 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.680 of people say, and I understand some people say, no, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.600 a lot of people say, this did work. So people 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.440 say it was the tank gride remember that. Oh I 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.520 forgot about this road around that tank. Yeah, I totally 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.800 forgot about that. He was off the rails there for 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.640 a little bit. Um. But the the thing is is 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.479 George Bush's campaign I was able to say, hey, this 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.800 had nothing to do with us, blame an s pack. 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.120 So it still worked in George Bush's favor. But George 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.919 Bush got to got to say, this had nothing to 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:40.360 do with me. Remodel it. That was Clinton. I just did. Um. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.160 It was. It was pretty dead on Clinton. Really, it's 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.520 called a political matchup. Um. And the whole way that 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:51.640 this pack was was funded was with what's called dark money. Yeah. 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.400 We should uh, we should just title this one how 0:04:54.520 --> 0:05:00.680 to Exploit a Loophole in America. Yeah, and the Supreme 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:05.119 Court really screwed things up. Yeah. Or if you don't 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.920 like Josh and chuck talking politics. Turn it off now, 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.000 but we're taking down the system. Yeah. Yeah, here's the thing, man, 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:18.640 Billionaires controlling who gets elected in the United States is 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.839 not a conservative or liberal issue. We're all being screwed 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.000 over equally. Here everyone, I got a stat for you, 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.039 and then we'll get right into it. This will shake 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.520 you to the core. Uh. Since two thousand ten of 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.719 the one billion dollars spent in federal elections by superpacks, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.280 almost sixty of that money came from one hundred and 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:45.160 ninety five people and their spouses one hundred and nine 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:50.919 people of campaign of superpack spending. And as as it 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:53.240 is crazy, but it's not that surprising if you really 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.440 step back and look at what's been going on the 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.760 last decade or so. And that's what people I mean, 0:05:57.880 --> 0:05:59.960 some people say like spending tons of money on a 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.919 elections isn't bad. It's the fact that people are the 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:08.600 ones doing the majority of the spending that it's not right. 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.160 And the the that's a billion dollars spent by super 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.880 packs or political action committees, and super packs up until 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:21.120 recently had to disclose um who donated money to him. 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.000 So this is just the money that's traceable, and what 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:26.720 we're talking about is the money that's not traceable here. 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.960 So we're gonna go back a little bit um in 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:38.360 the way back machine, back to the early twentieth century 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:43.360 once again. Yeah, and um, we're gonna talk about money 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.520 in politics. There's this really good Mother Jones article called 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.000 Follow the Dark Money, and it gives a bit of 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:53.840 a history of politics and money. Uh and says Congress 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.839 is always reacting to some sort of money scandal, but 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:02.479 there's this long history and tradition of knowing who is 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.000 funding campaigns transparency in America. Yeah, and it started with 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.880 Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt ran as a trust buster. He 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.160 was against the big corporations that controlled so much in 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.640 the robber barons, but he was also simultaneously secretly going 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.840 to these same corporations and robber barons and getting secret 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:25.040 funding for his campaigns. Yes, one tycoon said Teddy Roosevelt 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.040 got down on his knees for us. That's not the 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:33.040 normal description of Teddy Roosevelt. And as far as corporations 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.960 are concerned, not the public image of him. Teddy Roosevelt, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.280 you wouldn't think got on his knees for anybody. So 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.720 as a result, after Roosevelt was elected, he actually did 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.240 something about it. He signed into law the Tilman Act 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:50.160 that prevented it. Outlawed corporations from directly contributing to candidates. 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:54.000 That's illegal, still is today. It is. That's why we 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.600 need loopholes. Watergate came along in uh the I think 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:02.480 the nineteen seventy four, nineteen yeah, nine seventy two election 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:08.920 when Nixon was running for UM office. He um, okay, 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:14.520 he accepted twenty million dollars in nineteen seventy two money 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:20.520 UM in secret political contributions. And we're talking like delivered 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:24.200 in cash and checks in briefcases by couriers who were 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.760 flying private jets from Texas to d C. For Pete's sake. Yeah, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:32.280 and his personal attorney when Herbert Kombach Uh, he was 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.839 the deputy finance chair for the Committee for re Election 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.720 for President, he destroyed this evidence and went to prison 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.520 for it. So it was a real thing that happened. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.960 What's crazy is their their Political Action Committee was the 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:48.320 Committee to re Elect the President and the acronym was Creep. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.640 They called themselves creep and they were trying to reelect Nixon. 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:53.920 Funny I mean, come on, it's a little on the nose. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.600 Don't you think maybe it was lost on them? So um, 0:08:57.880 --> 0:08:59.840 you fast forward and you just say, okay, guys, let's 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.240 bashing Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. How about some some 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:08.520 Democrats in there. And uh, Bill Clinton was a really 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:10.560 good example of that as well. Yeah, you want to 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:12.320 go jogging with Bill, I want to play a little 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.880 golf six figure check. Please. Access to the president or 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.720 even somebody who's running for the presidency is not supposed 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:25.560 to be purchasable. You or you or I. We can't 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.600 do that. We don't have access to the president because 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:29.360 we don't have that much money. So it's just simply 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.160 not fair for somebody who does have that much money 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.040 to have that much more access to the president or 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.760 somebody running for the president. So over the years have 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.599 been scandal and then uh some sort of change to 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.679 campaign finance laws. But there's been this through thread over 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:50.640 the twentieth century that America has said, we want to 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:55.840 know who is giving money to uh two candidates. We 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.640 want to know who they're indebted to when they win. Yeah, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:00.679 but there's also a been at the head of every 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.880 time law comes into action. There is a loophole that 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.880 is invariably found that can get around that, created by 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.400 the same politicians who passed the Act to begin with, 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.600 because it's a game. They really upsetting if you think 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.319 about it. Oh, it's very upsetting. I'm I'm really doing 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.880 a good job here staying calm. Well, you have a 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.160 vein in your forehead that's pulsing. I can see it is. 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.319 There's this blood spurting out of it. So um chuck. 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.080 There's a there's another thread to um to all of this. 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.760 It's semi political, and that is the tax code. Right, 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.880 So if you go look at the tax code after, 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.760 you're going to see something called the five oh one 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:49.640 C four organization called a social welfare organization, or you 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.120 can also be a local association of employees and be 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.560 a five one four Those are also known as unions. Right, 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.840 And as of nineteen thirteen the Underwood terrorf Act, which 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:04.280 brought back in taxes, five oh one four organizations are 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:10.400 nonprofits that are tax exempt, right, Yeah, and they can 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.600 accept donations. But because of this uh there five oh 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.720 one C four status, they don't have to reveal who 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.079 their donors are, right, which wouldn't seem like a big 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.040 problem because all nonprofits are are people trying to save 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.199 animals and save the rainforest. Right, social welfare. One. Sure, 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.440 so you want to just donate your money and I 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.480 want it to be anonymous and it's no big deal. 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.840 But that is not always the case. Um. By the 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.920 well late nineteen fifty nine, early nineteen sixties, the government 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.959 realized that politics and uh five oh one see where 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.000 they five one c fours at that time, Okay, um, 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.760 they were intertwined. Uh, there was nothing they could do 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.600 about it, and so they started loosening rules. In a 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.600 nineteen eight one they said, you know what, you can 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.520 be politically engaged as long as it's under the banner 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.560 of the promotion of quote social welfare, or that the 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.120 work you're doing is primarily social welfare. And the way 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.280 that that translated as far as the I R S, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.360 who you know, um enforces the tax code. As far 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.720 as the I R S was concerned, it was if 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.760 fifty one of your funds are spent on social welfare, 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.280 you can spend up to forty on political stuff. Yeah, 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.400 And the I R S had to fight for that 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.320 designation because previously it just said primarily which is such 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.600 a loose uh word. You know, they said, you know, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.079 we what does this really mean? Right? And so that 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.480 they just through I think they released an interpretation a 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.200 rule that said this is what primarily means nine And 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:48.840 that was the rule from one on basically, um and so, okay, 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.000 you've got five ohen C. Four is they're hanging out 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.240 there over there, they're doing their own thing. Nobody's paying 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.600 too much attention to them. Uh. And then two ten 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.480 rolls along, and there was a lawsuit that had made 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.040 its way through the lower courts up to the Supreme Court, 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.520 and it was called Citizens United versus the Federal Election Committee. 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.760 It sounds so boring that I hazard to say that 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.600 Americans have never even heard of it. And it's and 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.840 it may be one of the most influential Supreme Court 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.760 rulings in the history of this country. But it just 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:24.640 listened to it. Citizens United versus the FEC Snooze. So 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:30.800 Citizens United was a m a political action committee and uh, well, 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:32.360 I think it still is as a matter of fact. 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:40.320 And Citizens United was spending money on advertisements for a 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:45.960 video on demand movie that was basically um a attack 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.480 ad one giant attack ad on Hillary Clinton. I thought 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:50.959 you're gonna say it was one of those Kirk Camera 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.240 in movies. I think it was similar. He had a 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.160 cameo I think, right, and so in this movie, um, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.720 like the Citizens United didn't. I don't believe they funded 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:03.600 the movie Your Finance if, but they were. They were 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.240 running ads about it, and they were running ads within 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.160 I think thirty days of the election, no, sixty days 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.360 of the prime no, sorry, thirty days of a primary election, 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.040 which under the McCain Fine Goal of Act, which is 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.880 a campaign finance Reform Act that came along in two 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.240 do to um, you're not allowed to do And Citizens 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.400 United said, you know what, why wouldn't we be allowed 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.280 to do? This is political speech. Um, We're going to 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.400 sue the Federal Elections Commission, And they did, and the 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.160 Supreme Court ruled on it, and the Supreme Court in 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:39.160 Citizens United ruled in favor of Citizens United. But then 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:44.200 they released one of the most sweeping explanations of what 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:48.680 they'd ruled that just completely changed the face of American 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:53.080 politics from that point on. It said, it's open season. 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:58.120 Bring in as much money as you want uh into 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.400 the American political system, because we are opening the floodgates 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:05.480 as wide as they can go. Yeah, what they basically 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.320 did was they equated speech with money. And they said, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:14.480 basically they took the term money talks to the reaches 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:17.280 that we can't even comprehend that you can make huge 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.400 donations and that is a political statement. That is, your 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.960 speech is a corporation, and you are protected because corporations 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.000 are individuals. Right, So, so that's exactly what they did. 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:31.960 They said, spending money on political campaigns, any political contribution 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.880 is a form of political speech. Speech is protected under 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:39.360 the First Amendment, but the speech of individuals is protected. Well. 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.240 Corporations are considered artificial people, so therefore they should have 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.080 that same thing extended to them, right, And so that 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:52.000 the ruling was that you can spend as much as 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.280 you want as long as it doesn't go directly to 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:59.560 a candidate. And um, you can also now that since 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.760 there's five four's, you can funnel as much money as 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.040 you want two or five O four and remain an 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.400 anonymous donor. Yeah. And the problem, well, there are a 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:12.600 lot of problems. One of the biggest problems is is 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.840 these corporations are spending tons and tons, millions and millions 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.880 of dollars. The court essentially said, uh, Joe Schmo on 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.640 the street donating ten dollars to a campaign is the 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.880 same thing as a corporation donating hundred thousand dollars to 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.080 a campaign, because they're both individuals. So it created this 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.160 huge loophole. And I think the Supreme Court they were 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:37.080 relying on was uh that these groups would be independent 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.920 of the candidates. And that's not only not how it 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.000 worked out. That was the plan all along. It was 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:45.520 extremely naive, the ruling was. And if you look at 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.760 naive or was it, I don't know, but if you 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:50.400 look at the I have the same questions. You know, 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.960 a lot of people do the the If you look 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.960 at the ruling though, there's a section on transparency where 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:00.520 they say, with the Supreme Court uphold the constitutionality of 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:06.000 requiring transparency in campaign finance eight to one, which is 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.560 like they're the only person descending was Clarence Thomas, and 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:13.000 it was like, yes, we're saying you need to be transparent, 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.879 and they said, okay, well, then transparency is going to 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.760 come through people demanding the corporations that they own stock 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.679 in to release what what political donations they've done. That 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.200 makes total sense. If you have stock in the company, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.399 if your life's fortune is invested in a corporation, you 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.280 should know who are they're who they're giving their money to. Okay, 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.560 so that's one way. And they also said, well, the 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.879 Federal Elections Commission, they've got their job to do, the 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.320 I R S, the SEC. There's all these regulatory agencies 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:47.720 that are tasked with keeping transparency in the political process, 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.440 and um, we're we're just going to rely on them. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.520 And as we're about to see after this break, relying 0:17:53.560 --> 0:18:15.479 on that was an enormous mistake. Foolhardy. All all right, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.440 we're back boy. We're getting riled up today. I'm remaining calm. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:24.600 Still up election season. So the Supreme Court said, guys, 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.000 spend as much money as you want, spend it anonymously 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.480 if you want. Um, the only thing that remains illegal 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:37.840 is UH corporations contributing directly to candidates, right, which, once 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.200 you have these loopholes, who cares, you don't need to anymore. Right. Plus, also, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:44.560 don't even worry about the mega donors donating directly to 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:50.440 candidates because you, um, there's there's requirements for reporting, there's 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.480 transparency requirements. If you under McCain. Fine gold. If you 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.960 contribute a thousand dollars or more to a candidate or 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.480 a pack that has to report donors, um, you have 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.000 to report it. Somebody's got to report it. Sure there's transparency, right, 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.280 the Federal Elections Commission, the i R S, all these 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.840 guys are tasked with making sure that happened. So we're fine. 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.240 Supreme Court went home and took a giant NAT together 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:21.280 on their enormous nine person bed. UH. And here's one 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:22.760 of the other big problems is a lot of this 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:27.359 money goes toward UH campaign ads, television ads, which have 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.040 a lot of sway um nine out of ten and 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.679 people have studied this. The uh Annenberg Public Policy Center 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.040 UH determined that in the two thousand twelve campaign cycle, 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.160 nine out of ten ads UH funded by dark money 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.879 were negative. So that's why you see those negative ads. 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.520 And not only that, but twenty of those were misleading. 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:52.679 And there's no accountability. So they're being funded anonymously and 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:54.960 there's no fact checker. They don't have to run it 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:57.920 by anybody to get approval and say, well, this is 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.680 all true, it's not misleading at all. So you could 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:04.040 basically say whatever you want the ad runs, it's anonymously funded, 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.080 and someone's campaign is destroyed in the process. So the 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.200 point is, as long as the candidate is not coordinating 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.359 with the political action committee, the superpacker, the five oh 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:18.720 one CE four, then it's all kosher. It's all illegal coordinating, 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:23.199 meaning like so blatantly like come on, it's still going on. 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:26.560 So every every election season as it starts to kick off, 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:30.200 you'll you'll see on the news like Ted Cruz or 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:34.680 Bernie Sanders or whoever just released of an eerie twelve 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:39.920 hour tape of them doing different things with no soundtrack whatsoever. 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.040 And and the whole thing is they they'll release a 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:46.800 real and it's them hanging out with their mom, them 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.200 writing a tractor, them like standing on like a mountain 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.560 looking as the sun comes up, with their foot on 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.840 the head of a small child. Sure, they're like there, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.400 and it's just that there's no sound to it whatsoever. 0:20:57.480 --> 0:20:59.320 And they just put it out there. I'm just putting 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:01.399 it out there, and then anybody wants to use it 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:03.480 can do whatever they want with it. And then the 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:07.840 political action committees, the super from the come along use 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.359 that footage to make their ads in support of the candidate. 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:12.600 I kind of wondered. I was like, how are they 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.480 getting this footage anyway? If they can't be directed putting 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.200 it out there? I had no idea. Yeah, it's pretty 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.280 cynical really if you think about it, the idea that 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.080 they're not coordinating in any way, shape or form. They're 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:26.600 just putting all this footage out there. And and again, 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:28.800 guys like if you're getting riled up if you're a 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:32.080 Republican when we say they like the Democrats do this too, 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:36.520 But it's really disingenuous to say that all parties are 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:42.119 equally equally at fault here for using dark money, because again, 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.680 studies show that if you quantify the amount of money 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:49.480 spent by the GOP and by the Democrats, the GOP 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:57.000 has outspent the Democrats mind boggling anything to sevent Yes. 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.520 As far as using dark money goes, it's it's definitely 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:03.760 not a like. The Democrats do it, for sure, and 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:07.159 they sometimes do it cynically. I wade about a a 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:12.560 dark money committee that released an ad in favor of 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:17.720 Harry Reid lambasting dark money. That's pretty cynical as well. Yeah, 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:20.840 so both sides do it. The Republicans just do it way, 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.359 way more. Yeah. And I think Hillary Clinton has come 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.600 under fire for her reliance on super packs being attacked 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:30.120 by Bernie of course, who's like, I don't want any 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:33.480 part of that stuff. Um, although there are some super 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:37.280 packs for Bernie, but I think he's disavowed them. Maybe. Yeah, 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.919 you have to look at George Bush disavowed the weekend 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:42.760 passed his ad to you still benefit from it. It's 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:46.160 not like he's like, guys, you have to stop. Well 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.560 that was my Bernie standards. No, that was your Larry 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:54.560 David right. Oh wait, same guy. Uh. Leading up to 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.399 the primaries here in New Hampshire and Iowa not too 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:01.040 long ago, Bernie came under fire from Hillary because there's 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:05.359 a group called Friends of the Earth Action. Uh there 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:09.000 are five oh one c four and um they are 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:11.600 in strong support of Bernie. And she's like, hey, dude, 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.560 you're getting dark money too from this outfit. Uh. Friends 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:19.520 of Earth Action said, Hey, first of all, we've been 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:22.440 around since early seventies. We've been around long before dark 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:25.160 money has been around. Uh, that's not what we are. 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:29.840 We are mainly small donor based. Um, do not compare 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.399 us to these corporations. Uh, and you know they have 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:35.000 a point in a lot of ways. You can't compare 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:39.840 Friends of Earth action to the Koch brothers. UM. But 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:42.200 I think Hillary was just trying to get in some like, hey, 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:46.280 you're not completely clean either, Right, It's true. And the 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:48.800 Koch brothers is good that you mentioned them because they 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.439 are basically the poster boys for dark money contributions. Right, 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:56.680 Americans for Prosperity spent thirty six million dollars and that's 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:01.240 their group right in twelve, UM, and they actually got 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.399 outspent by other groups like Karl Rove created UM Crossroads 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:09.560 GPS and that are so dumb. They spent seventy one 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:12.879 million in two thousand twelve. But the Koch Brothers in 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:16.520 particular have pledged nine hundred million dollars for the two 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:19.359 thousand and sixteen cycle. That's how much they're going to 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:22.680 spend on the two thousand and sixteen cycle. And UM, 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:24.640 if you read up on those guys and their dark 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:30.040 money contributions UM or just their general political contributions, they've 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:34.359 definitely amassed a lot of friends in state legislatures, in 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:38.040 the Senate, in the in the the UM, the House, 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:41.200 and the one that's left is the presidency, and they're 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.840