WEBVTT - Selects: How Dark Money Works 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:05.559 Happy Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon, or Saturday evening or 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:07.920 Saturday night, or any other day of the week that 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:09.920 you happen to be listening to this. This is Chuck here. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.760 It is March in my mind in my memory palace, 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.479 because I'm opening the window to the upstairs floor to 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.720 talk about dark money, how dark money works. Released in 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:30.200 great episode. Check it out right now. Welcome to Stuff 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:39.320 you Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Bush 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.680 and dukakas on Crime. Bush supports the death penalty for 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.800 first degree murderers. Dukaka is not only opposes of the 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.839 death penalty, he allowed first degree murderers to have weekend 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.440 passes from prison. One was Willie Horton, who murdered a 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.960 boy in a robbery, stabbing him nineteen times. Despite a 0:00:56.000 --> 0:01:00.680 life sentence, Horton received ten weekend passes from prison. Orton fled, 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.880 kidnapped a young couple, stabbing the man and repeatedly raping 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:09.039 his girlfriend. Weekend prison passes du caucasun Crime. Hey and 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.080 welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, there's Charles to be, 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.080 Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there. And what you've just 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:20.680 heard was something we brought back with us from via 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.959 the way back machine an attack ad, the attack AD 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.520 from the election between George Herbert Walker Bush and one 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:33.840 Michael du Caucus. That's right, and uh, that ad is 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:38.480 widely credited as turning the tide against du Caucus's campaign, 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.559 which was doing pretty good at the time. Yeah. Well, 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.319 some people say so, other people say true. Depends on 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.440 who you ask dissent. That's politics, as it turns out, 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.440 there's always more than one opinion. But the reason we 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.680 bring up this ad, which UM first aired on September 0:01:54.720 --> 0:02:01.600 twenty one, nineteen, Yes, UM as called weekend passes for 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.920 obvious reasons, and it was UM funded by something called 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:10.560 the National Security Political Action Committee And n s PACK 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:17.960 was a non affiliated pro Bush political action committee that 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:22.280 was aimed at sinking du Caucus and getting Bush elected. Yeah. 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.600 I think, uh, one of Bush's uh maybe it was 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.600 his chief campaign guy said by the time we're done, 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.280 people are gonna think Willie Horton is du caucus is 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:37.239 running mate. And it worked too. I mean, like still, 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.040 if if you say the name Willie Horton, people of 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.639 a certain age e g r age can still say, oh, 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.280 I know who that is? Yeah, Well, quickly, the story 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.720 of Willie Horton is he was he was in prison 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:53.120 for murder, was furloughed as part of the UH for 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.880 a weekend as part of the Massachusetts furlough program that 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.280 was UM in effect at the time, and he raped 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.360 and killed somebody on this weekend pass on the weekend pass, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.720 which was a big sign that it may not be 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:12.000 a good idea to furlough murders. I guess they needed 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.000 to test it out to find out one way or another. 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.320 But yeah, that pretty much closed the book on it. 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.720 And the thing was the Bush campaign linked d Caucus 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.280 is well, Duke Caucus himself with the weekend passes and 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.320 insinuated that he had come up with this and that 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.000 he was in support of it. Well, he was in 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.440 support of it. He didn't come up with it though, Yeah, 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.760 he inherited it from his Republican predecessor, I believe. Yeah, 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:40.640 it actually started U with a Republican governor governor of Massachusetts, 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.720 which apparently things have been going fine up until then 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.360 until Willie Horn came along. Yeah, it kind of had 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.080 a weird UH, A long and winding road. Um. The 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:56.640 initial program excluded first degree murderers, and then the Supreme 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.080 Court said, no, the law doesn't specifically say that, so 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.720 you can't exclude first degree murderers. So the legislature said, well, 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:05.240 we gotta put a stop to this, and we can't 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.480 let first agree murderers out on leave. And Ducaca's vetoed that. 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.280 So he did support it until he decided to run 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.119 for president, and that's when he said, let's get this off. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:22.520 So the N. S Pack ad was very um widely criticized. 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.640 It was criticized as being misleading, It was criticized as 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:31.560 fostering racist attitudes. Um and but it still worked. A 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.360 lot of people say, and I understand. Some people say no, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.280 A lot of people say this did work. Some people 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.120 say it was the tank Gride remember that, Oh I 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.560 forgot abouts rode around that tank. Yeah, I totally forgot 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.599 about that. He was off the rails there for a 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:49.800 little bit. Um. But the the thing is is George 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.400 Bush's campaign I was able to say, hey, this had 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.440 nothing to do with us, blame N. S. Pack. So 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.960 it still worked in George Bush's favor. But George Bush 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.960 got got to say this had nothing to do with me. 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.320 Remodle up. That was Clinton. I just did. Um. It 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.039 was it was pretty dead on Clinton. Really, it's called 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.400 a political matchup. Um. And the whole way that this 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:19.320 pack was was funded was with what's called dark money. Yeah. 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.120 We should uh, we should just title this one how 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:27.839 to exploit a loophole in America. Yeah, and how the 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:32.440 Supreme Court really screwed things up. Yeah. Or if you 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.599 don't like Josh and Chuck talking politics, turn it off now. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.680 But we're taking down the system. Yeah. Yeah. Here's the thing, man, 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:46.320 Billionaires controlling who gets elected in the United States is 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:50.520 not a conservative or liberal issue. We're all being screwed 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.680 over equally. Here everyone, I got a stat for you, 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:55.719 and then we'll get right into it. This will shake 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.240 you to the core. Uh. Since two thousand ten of 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.400 the one bill in dollars spent in federal elections by superpacks, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.839 almost sixty percent of that money came from one hundred 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:12.640 and ninety five people and their spouses one hundred and 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:17.760 nine people of campaign of superpack spending. And as most 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.560 as it is crazy, but it's not that surprising if 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.839 you really step back and look at what's been going 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.159 on the last decade or so, and that's what people 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:27.479 I mean, some people say, like spending tons of money 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.520 on elections isn't bad. It's the fact that a hundred 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:34.240 people are the ones doing the majority of the spending, right, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:38.200 That's that it's not right. And the the that's a 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.560 billion dollars spent by super packs or political action committees, 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:47.080 and super packs up until recently had to disclose, um, 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.279 who donated money to them. So this is just the 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.760 money that's traceable. And what we're talking about is the 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.800 money that's not traceable here. So we're gonna go back 0:06:55.800 --> 0:07:04.560 a little bit um in the way back machine, back 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.920 to the early twentieth century once again. Yeah, and um, 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.520 we're going to talk about money in politics. There's this 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.360 really good Mother Jones article called Follow the Dark Money, 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.560 and it gives a bit of a history of politics 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.880 and money. Uh and says Congress is always reacting to 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.760 some sort of money scandal, but there's this long history 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:33.840 and tradition of knowing who is funding campaigns. Transparency in America. Yeah, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.480 and it started with Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt ran as 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.600 a trust buster. He was against the big corporations that 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.560 controlled so much in the robber barons, but he was 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:47.120 also simultaneously secretly going to these same corporations of robber 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.720 barons and getting secret funding for his campaigns. Yes, one 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.440 tycoon said, Teddy Roosevelt got down on his knees for us. 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:59.720 That's not the normal description of Teddy Roosevelt. And as 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.440 far corporations are concerned, not the public image of him. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.640 Teddy Roosevelt, you wouldn't think got on his needs for anybody. 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.120 So as a result, after Roosevelt was elected, he actually 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.200 did something about it. He signed into law of the 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:16.560 Tilman Act that prevented it, outlawed corporations from directly contributing 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:21.400 to candidates. That's illegal, still is today. It is. That's 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.840 why we need loopholes. Watergate came along in uh, the 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.600 I think the nineteen seventy four, nineteen yeah, nineteen seventy 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:36.600 two election when Nixon was running for UM office. He um, Okay, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:42.240 he accepted twenty million dollars in nineteen seventy two money 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:48.200 UM in secret political contributions. And we're talking like delivered 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.880 in cash and checks in briefcases by couriers who were 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.440 flying private jets from Texas to d C. For Pete's sake. Yeah, 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.920 and his personal attorney when Herbert kombach Uh, he was 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.520 z deputy finance chair for the Committee for re Election 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.400 for President, he destroyed this evidence and went to prison 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.200 for it. So it was a real thing that happened. 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.640 What's crazy is their their political action committee was the 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:16.000 Committee to re Elect the President and the acronym was Creep. 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.920 They called themselves creep and they were trying to reelect 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:21.080 Nixon's pretty funny. I mean, come on, it's a little 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.960 on the nose. Don't you think maybe it was lost 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.320 on them? So um, you fast forward and you just say, okay, guys, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.400 let's stop bashing Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. How about 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:35.880 some some Democrats in there. And uh, Bill Clinton was 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.000 a really good example of that as well. Yeah, you 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:39.760 want to go jogging with Bill? I want to play 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.600 a little golf six figure check. Please. Access to the 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.600 president or even somebody who's running for the presidency is 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:52.760 not supposed to be purchasable. Bedroom you were you or I, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:54.720 we can't do that. We don't have access to the 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.520 president because we don't have that much money. So it's 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.280 just simply not fair for somebody who does have that 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.080 much money to have that much more access to the 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.880 president or somebody running for the president. So over the 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.760 years have been scandal and then uh some sort of 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:13.679 change to campaign finance laws. But there's been this through 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.920 thread over the twentieth century that America has said, we 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:23.200 want to know who is giving money to uh two candidates, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.360 we want to know who they're indebted to when they win. Yeah, 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.320 but there's also been a thread of every time law 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.400 comes into action, there is a loophole that is invariably 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.920 found that can get around that created by the same 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:41.160 politicians who pass the Act to begin with, because it's 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.839 a game. They really upsetting if you think about it. Oh, 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.640 it's very upsetting. I'm I'm really doing a good job 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:50.160 here staying calm. Well, you have a vein in your 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.160 forehead that's pulsing. I can see it is. There's this 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:57.079 blood spurting out of it. Yea, So um chuck. There's 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.800 a there's another thread to um to all of this 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:03.439 is semi political, and that is the tax code. Right, 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.560 So if you go look at the tax code after 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.440 you're going to see something called the five oh one 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:17.320 C four organization called the social welfare organization, or you 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.800 can also be a local association of employees and be 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.240 a five O one four. Those are also known as unions. Right, 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.520 and as of nineteen thirteen the Underwood Terriff Act, which 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:31.319 brought back income taxes, five oh one C four organizations 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:37.959 are nonprofits that are tax exempt. Right, Yeah, and they 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:42.160 can accept donations. But because of this uh there five 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.160 oh one C four status, they don't have to reveal 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.559 who their donors are, right, which wouldn't seem like a 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.480 big problem because all nonprofits are are people trying to 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.880 save animals and save the rainforest. Right. Social welfare one. Sure, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.120 So you want to just donate your money and I 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.160 want it to be anonymous and it's no big deal. 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.520 But that is an always the case. Um. By the 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.600 well late nineteen fifty nine, early nineteen sixties, the government 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:12.640 realized that politics and uh five oh one seat where 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.720 they five one fours at that time? Yeah, okay, um, 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.440 they were intertwined. Uh. There was nothing they could do 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.280 about it, and so they started loosening rules in a 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.480 night one they said, you know what, you can be 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:28.560 politically engaged as long as it's under the banner of 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.920 the promotion of quote social welfare or quote or that 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.560 the work you're doing is primarily social welfare. And the 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.959 way that that translated as far as the I R S, 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.040 who you know, um enforces the tax code. As far 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.360 as the I R S was concerned, it was if 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:49.439 fifty one of your funds are spent on social welfare, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.960 you can spend up to forty nine on political stuff. Yeah. 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.080 And the I R S had to fight for that 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:59.000 designation because previously it just said primarily, which is such 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.280 a loose h word. You know, they said, you know, 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.800 we what does this really mean? Right? And so that 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.520 they just through I think they released an interpretation a rule. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.960 It said this is what primarily means nine. And that 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:16.520 was the rule from one on basically. Um, And so, okay, 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.520 you've got five oh wind C four is they're hanging 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.640 out there over there, they're doing their own thing. Nobody's 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.800 paying too much attention to them. Uh. And then two 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.760 thousand ten rolls along, and there was a lawsuit that 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.880 had made its way through the lower courts up to 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.840 the Supreme Court, and it was called Citizens United versus 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.319 the Federal Election Committee. And it sounds so boring that 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:40.240 I hazard to say that Americans have never even heard 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.120 of it. And it's and it may be one of 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.360 the most influential Supreme Court rulings in the history of 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:49.280 this country. But it just listened to it. Citizens United 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:54.439 versus the FEC snooze. So Citizens United was a m 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.800 a political action committee and uh well, I think it 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.440 still is as a matter of fact. And Citizens United 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:09.040 was spending money on advertisements for a video on demand 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:14.720 movie that was basically, um, a attack ad, one giant 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.679 attack ad on Hillary Clinton. I thought you're gonna say 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.600 it was one of those Kirk Camera in movies. I 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.960 think it was similar. He had a cameo I think, right. 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.880 And so in this movie, Um, like the Citizens United didn't. 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.400 I don't believe they funded the movie or finance, but 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.000 they were. They were running ads about it, and they 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.640 were running ads within I think thirty days of the 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.400 the election, no, sixty days of the prime no, sorry, 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.240 thirty days of a primary election, which under the McCain 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:46.320 Fine Goal of Act, which is a campaign finance reform 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.080 Act that came along in two thou two. Um, you're 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.880 not allowed to do And Citizens United said, you know what, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:54.720 why wouldn't we be allowed to do this? This is 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.600 political speech. Um, we're going to sue the Federal Elections Commission, 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.200 and they did in free speech. The Supreme Court ruled 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:04.840 on it, and the Supreme Court in Citizens United ruled 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.760 in favor of Citizens United. But then they released one 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:12.920 of the most sweeping explanations of what they'd ruled that 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:17.680 just completely changed the face of American politics from that 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.960 point on. It said, it's open season. Bring in as 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:27.720 much money as you want uh into the American political system, 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.760 because we are opening the floodgates as wide as they 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.320 can go. Yeah, what they basically did was they equated 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:39.280 speech with money, and they said, basically they took the 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.800 term money talks to the reaches that we can't even 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.120 comprehend that you can make huge donations and that is 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:49.360 a political statement. That is your speech as a corporation, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.400 and you are protected because corporations are individuals, right, So 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.200 so that's exactly what they did. They said, spending money 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.360 on political campaigns, any political contribution, is a form of 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.640 political speech. Speech is protected under the First Amendment, but 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:08.280 the speech of individuals is protected. Well. Corporations are considered 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.680 artificial people, so therefore they should have that same thing 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.120 extended to them, right, And so that that the ruling 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:20.120 was that you can spend as much as you want 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.640 as long as it doesn't go directly to a candidate. 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.680 And um, you can also now that since there's five 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.520 O four, you can funnel as much money as you 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.440 want too or five O four and remain an anonymous donor. Yeah. 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.800 And the problem, well, there are a lot of problems. 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.240 One of the biggest problems is is these corporations are 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.360 spending tons and tons, millions and millions of dollars. The 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:48.600 court essentially said, uh, Joe Schmo on the street donating 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:50.920 ten dollars to a campaign is the same thing as 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:55.040 a corporation donating thousand dollars to a campaign, because they're 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.080 both individuals, right. So it created this huge loophole. And 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.920 I think the Supreme Court with they were relying on was, uh, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.159 that these groups would be independent of the candidates. And 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.399 that's not only not how it worked out, that was 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.919 the plan all along. It was extremely naive the ruling was. 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.439 And if you look at naive or was it, I 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.960 don't know, but if you look at the I have 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.080 the same questions. You know a lot of people do 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:21.720 the the If you look at the ruling, though, there's 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.240 a section on transparency, where they say, with the Supreme 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:31.320 Court uphold the constitutionality of requiring transparency in campaign finance 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.120 at that past eight to one, right, eight to one, 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.680 which is like they're the only person descending was Clarence Thomas, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.879 and it was like, yes, we're saying you need to 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.280 be transparent. And they said, okay, well, then transparency is 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.760 going to come through people demanding the corporations that they 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:51.120 own stock in to release what what political donations they've done. 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.880 That makes total sense. If you have stock in a company, 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.080 if your life's fortune is invested in a corporation, you 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.960 should know who are they're who they're giving their money too. Okay, 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.240 So that's one way. And they also said, well, the 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.560 Federal Elections Commission, they've got their job to do, the 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:10.040 I R S, the SEC. There's all these regulatory agencies 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:14.879 that are tasked with keeping transparency in the political process, 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.160 and um, we're we're just going to rely on them. 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.200 And as we're about to see after this break, relying 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:43.959 on that was an enormous mistake. Foolhardy. So all right 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.520 we're back, boy, we're getting riled up today. I'm remaining 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.080 calm still, I'm riled up um election season. So the 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.280 Supreme Court said, guys, spend as much money as you want, 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.680 spend it anonymously if you want. UM. The only thing 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:05.880 that remains illegal is corporations contributing directly to candidates, right, which, 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.320 once you have these loopholes, who cares, you don't need 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.080 to anymore. Right. Plus, also, don't even worry about the 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:16.680 mega donors donating directly to candidates because you, um, there's 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:21.560 there's requirements for reporting. There's transparency requirements. If you under McCain, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.720 fine gold if you contribute a thousand dollars or more 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:30.640 to a candidate or a pack that has to report donors, Um, 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.120 you have to report it. Somebody's got to report it. Sure, 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.359 there's transparency, right, the Federal Elections Commission, the i R S, 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.920 all these guys are tasked with making sure that happened. 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.679 So we're fine. Supreme Court went home and took a 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:49.120 giant nap together on their enormous nine person bed. UH. 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:50.879 And here's one of the other big problems is a 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:55.280 lot of this money goes toward UH campaign ads, television ads, 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.920 which have a lot of sway UM nine out of 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.359 chen and people have studied this. The uh Annenberg Public 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.879 Policy Center UH determined that in the two thousand twelve 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.159 campaign cycle, nine out of ten ads UH funded by 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.680 dark money were negative. So that's why you see those 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:16.000 negative ads. And not only that, but those were misleading 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:21.119 and there's no accountability. So they're being funded anonymously and 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.439 there's no fact checker. They don't have to run it 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.399 by anybody to get approval and say, well, this is 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.119 all true, it's not misleading at all, So you can 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.520 basically say whatever you want. The ad runs, it's anonymously funded, 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.520 and someone's campaign is destroyed in the process. So the 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.680 point is, as long as the candidate is not coordinating 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.800 with the Political Action Committee, the superpacker, the five of 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.480 one CE four, then it's all kosher. It's all illegal 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:51.040 and coordinating, meaning like so blatantly like come on, it's 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.040 still going on. So every every election season as it 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.480 starts to kick off, you'll you'll see on the news 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:00.680 like Ted Cruz or Bernie Sanders or whoever, just released 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:06.600 an eerie twelve hour tape of them doing different things 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.359 with no soundtrack whatsoever. And and the whole thing is 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.280 they they'll release a real and it's them hanging out 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.720 with their mom, them writing a tractor, them like standing 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.280 on like a mountain looking as the sun comes up 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:22.480 with their foot on the head of a small child. Sure, 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.000 they're like there, and it's just that there's no sound 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.120 to it whatsoever. And they just put it out there. 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:29.520 I'm just putting it out there, and then anybody wants 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:31.199 to use it can do whatever they want with it. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.360 And then the political action committees, the super along use 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.800 that footage to make their ads in supported the candidate. 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:41.080 I kind of wondered, I was like, how are they 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.920 getting this footage anyway? If they can't be directed putting 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.639 it out there? I had no idea. Yeah, it's pretty 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:48.720 cynical really if you think about it, the idea that 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.560 they're not coordinating in any way, shape or form. They're 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.080 just putting all this raw footage out there. And and again, 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:57.240 guys like if you're getting riled up if you're a 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:00.560 Republican when we say they like the Democrats do this too. 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:05.000 But it's really disingenuous to say that all parties are 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:10.600 equally equally at fault here for using dark money, because again, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:14.119 studies show that if you quantify the amount of money 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.960 spent by the GOP and by the Democrats. The GOP 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:25.480 has outspent the Democrats mind boggling to seventeen percent. Yes. 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.000 As far as using dark money goes, it's it's definitely 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.640 not a like. Democrats do it, for sure, and they 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.119 sometimes do it cynically. I read about a a dark 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:41.399 money committee that released an ad in favor of Harry 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:46.160 Reid lambasting dark money. That's pretty cynical as well. Yeah, 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:48.879 so both sides do it. The Republicans just do it 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.719 way way more. Yeah, And I think Hillary Clinton has 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.680 come under fire for her reliance on super PACs, being 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:58.359 attacked by Bernie of course, who's like, I don't want 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.600 any part of that stuff. Um, Although there are some 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:05.760 super pecks for Bernie, but I think he's disavowed them. Maybe. Yeah, 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:08.400 you have to look at George Bush disavowed the Weekend 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:11.359 Passes ad too. You still benefit from it. It's not 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:14.919 like he's like, guys, you have to stop, well, that 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:19.000 was my Bernie standards. No, that was your Larry David right. 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:24.159 Oh wait, same guy. Uh. Leading up to the primaries 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:26.359 here in New Hampshire and Iowa not too long ago, 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:30.000 Bernie came under fire from Hillary because there's a group 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:34.280 called Friends of the Earth Action. Uh there are five 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:37.880 oh one c four and um they are in strong 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:41.000 support of Bernie. And she's like, hey, dude, you're getting 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:44.400 dark money too from this outfit. Uh. Friends of Earth 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:48.240 UM Action said, Hey, first of all, we've been around 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:51.200 since early seventies. We've been around long before dark money 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:53.760 has been around. Uh, that's not what we are. We 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:58.479 are mainly small donor based. UM, do not compare us 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:01.960 to these corporations. Uh. And you know they have a 0:24:02.000 --> 0:24:04.480 point in a lot of ways. You can't compare Friends 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:08.439 of Earth Action to the Koke Brothers. UM. But I 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:10.600 think Hillary was just trying to get in some like, hey, 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:14.760 you're not completely clean either. Right, it's true. And the 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:17.280 Koke Brothers is good that you mentioned them because they 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:20.960 are basically the poster boys for dark money contributions. Right. 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:25.160 Americans for Prosperity spent thirty six million dollars and that's 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:28.920 their group right in two yeah, in two twelve, UM, 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:31.399 and they actually got outspent by other groups like Karl 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:36.120 Rove created UM Crossroads GPS and that all these names 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:38.800 are so dumb. They spent seventy one million in two 0:24:38.800 --> 0:24:42.520