Juan Williams: Politics, a sport for billionaires

[nitpicker]

http://thehill.com/opinion/juan-williams/259496-juan-williams-politics-a-sport-for-billionaires

Juan Williams: Politics, a sport for billionaires

11/09/15 06:00 AM EST

Tom Perkins, a Republican billionaire venture capitalist, once offered a “Hunger Games” take on money and American politics. “You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes — how’s that?” Perkins proposed in a speech last year. Perkins’ words sound like a billionaire’s fantasy unleashed about total political dominance of the lower 99.9 percent.

But that fantasy is close to the reality of the 2016 election cycle in which, The New York Times reports, just 158 families have given half of all the money donated to presidential candidates. All but 20 of those wealthy families have given their money to Republicans. That fits with earlier findings that since 2010 only 195 “individuals and their spouses gave almost 60 percent” of the $1 billion channeled to super-PACs. Those numbers come from a report by the Brennan Center for Law & Justice in a review of the money gushing into politics since the Supreme Court ruled that unlimited contributions are to be protected as a matter of free speech.

Big dollars coming from super-PACs have doubled in Senate races since 2010, according to the Brennan Center. The group found that “of the 10 highest-spending super-PACs in the most competitive Senate races in 2014” only two got more than one percent of their contributions from individual donors who gave $200 or less.

At the moment, big money is also dominating the Republican presidential primary. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had lagged in polls but has remained competitive largely due to the $11 million given to his super-PAC by one hedge fund manager, Robert Mercer.

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, is also failing to gain support from voters but he has raised more than $100 million for his super-PAC. The group began the year with a $100,000-per-ticket fundraiser hosted by Henry Kravis, a New York businessman.

And last week Sen. Marco Rubio’s (Fla.) campaign, which is rising after a slow start, got a big shot in the arm because of an endorsement from billionaire investor Paul Singer. The 70-year-old topped all conservative donors in the 2014 midterm elections, and he is a top bundler of donations from other rich people. His support is so important to Republicans that Bush sent two top aides to Singer’s office in a last-ditch effort to stop him from endorsing Rubio.
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