RNC Chair Complains That The Supreme Court Hasn’t Done Enough To Let Rich Donors Give The GOP Money

[n2doc]

BY IAN MILLHISER


...


After the Republican victory in last week’s McCutcheon v. FEC decision, the $123,200 limit on total donations to candidates and parties is dead, but limits on how much a wealthy individual can give to a particular candidate ($5,200) or to the RNC itself ($32,400) remain in place. Moreover, although the McCutcheon decision effectively legalized several money laundering schemes that will enable a single rich donor to channel a few million dollars to contested races, it is unlikely that those schemes could be used to launder tens or hundreds of millions of dollars from a single donor. So if Priebus wants casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who spent about $150 million in to help elect Republicans in 2012, to write a nine-figure check to the RNC, he is currently out of luck.

This, according to Priebus, is a problem. During his interview with Hewitt, the RNC chair claimed that we should not “have caps at all” — so if Adelson wants to write a single $100 million check to the RNC he should have the right to do so. And then Adelson went after one of the few remaining categories of campaign finance laws that were explicitly endorsed by Citizens United and McCutcheon — disclosure laws. According to Priebus,

You’ve got now groups that are targeting people viciously, both businesses and individuals, because their names are disclosed. I mean, you want to be for disclosure. But when you start to see some of the cases out there where people are targeted, and businesses are targeted and picketed and threatened for political contributions, then now you’re suppressing free speech through disclosure.

Priebus’s decision to tell tales of donors being harassed for their political donations is not exactly surprising. The Citizens United opinion held that a campaign finance disclosure law “would be unconstitutional as applied to an organization if there were a reasonable probability that the group’s members would face threats, harassment, or reprisals if their names were disclosed.” So Priebus is prying on a crack that the justices already created for him. In the world Priebus seems to be advocating for, however, Adelson could not just write a $100 million check to the RNC, he could do so anonymously.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/09/3424735/rnc-chair-complains-that-the-supreme-court-hasnt-done-enough-to-help-rich-donors-give-the-gop-money/

This seems ripe for one of EarlG's special graphics.

[GeorgeGist]

1. Silence of the Lambs ...

is free speech to the butchers.

[liberal N proud]

2. There must be a deadline on destroying what is left of Democracy in America.