What are ways in which money has negatively affected elections in CA?

[erebusman]

Hello,

I am working with Wolf-PAC (www.wolf-pac.com) which was started by Cenk from TYT.

I am just a volunteer doing some research here so I thought I would do some 'crowd sourcing' by taking my research assignment to my favorite website forums

So the question on hand is "What are ways in which money has negatively affected elections in CA?" and particularly the interest/angle is BIG money - but really any negative influence ideas are welcome.

So I am certainly doing some googling this week to find some answers to this; and trying to remember ways myself. The first idea that comes to my mind is the role that ENRON played in the politics and elections in CA for Gray Davis in the 2000/2001 period. But I need to re-read up on it since it's been a while I don't remember all the details.

So any help my friends at DU can offer for ideas that I can research further or items to add to the list would be appreciated.

Thank you!

erebusman

[Politicalboi]

1. Enron was bad for Ca

But in 2010 money couldn't buy Meg Whitman the governor's seat. That gives me hope for Obama. All the money Rmoney puts in, might not help enough.

[leveymg]

2. Long, long history of that sort of thing in CA

CA politics has been a case study in the creative uses of money in politics.

Big money played a major role in many of your most notorious ballot measures, as well as the recall election that ended Davis' Governorship.

A group of rich car dealers propelled Richard Nixon onto the national stage, defeating progressive Helen Douglas for Congress in '46 by Red Baiting her, starting a national trend against progressive Democrats during the McCarthy Era.

Similarly, the candidacy of Democratic candidate (ex-Socialist) Upton Sinclair in the '34 Governor's race was derailed by Louis B. Mayer and a bunch of other Hollywood Right-wingers who ran a sophisticated propaganda campaign and a third-party "Commonwealth Progressive" candidate against him.

Interesting subject.

[thelordofhell]

3. You need only look at one man..........Darryl Issa

That fuckin' prick ruined California and now has his eyes set on ruining the USA

[NV Whino]

4. Two words…

Arnold Schwartzeneger. Well, two more… Darrell Issa. Okay, one more… Enron.

[Starry Messenger]

5. The Lincoln Club--I just started researching them

They have been jammed up to the armpits in affecting CA elections and also were the group behind Citizens United (!).

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/gop-backers-citizens-united-now-seek-ban-special-interest-money-15274

The Lincoln Club of Orange County had a big hand in the landmark Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which opened the floodgate of special-interest money in presidential politics.

In 2008, the Republican group helped finance “Hillary: The Movie,” a negative election-year film about Hillary Clinton that became the flash point in the litigation.

Oddly, even though the club boasts it was “instrumental” in pushing the Citizens United case, it now is backing a state ballot measure purportedly aimed at banning special-interest money in California elections – adopting some of the reformist language that critics of Citizens United use.

<snip>


Since then {Pat Brown's election}, “the club has played a pivotal role in the candidacies of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Pete Wilson, George Deukmejian, the recall of Gray Davis and the subsequent election of Arnold Schwarzenegger,” the website says.

They are behind an anti-union bill that qualified for the November ballot in CA. I can't post the whole article, but it is a *must read*.

[erebusman]

6. great ideas

Thanks guys great tips!

I totally forgot about Issa nice one there.

There so much linkage between ENRON, Gray Davis and The Gropenator(Arnold) its hard to separate them all but definitely hes included in those thoughts.

The Lincoln Club is a totally new one to me although I had heard of that Hillary "movie" so that's awesome thank you!

erebusman

[bemildred]

7. How could money positively affect elections?

Are we supposed to think that elections should be bought? Our entire political system is so corrupt we think it's normal. It's so corrupt that you almost cannot get elected at all without being on the take. Elections are largely presented in the media as money contests, bribery conetests, who can attract the most bribes. Our elections and our political system are precisely what you get when big money rules all, that is why it sucks.

[erebusman]

8. that's a great question bemildred ..

I often wonder that myself.

The problem I think is say for instnace your in a state running for office .... you make 40K a year and work in customer service.

But you have great political ideas. So you tell everyone you see your running for office ..and then start a campaign.

You will _have_ to have some money to get your message out right? You can't run a website for your campaign without money; you can't print bumper stickers without money, you can't make signs to put on your supporters lawns without money. Never mind running TV ads, or newspaper ads, or going on the road (essentially quitting your day job) to run for office.

No .. I don't like money in politics either but I can quickly how saying "no money at all allowed in politics" also does not work.

This is where I do agree with the angle Wolf-PAC is taking. Big Money. Corporate money. A multi-millionaire purchasing candidates.

It's creating a 'government for the rich' system and we need to take actions to stop it. Corporations are not human beings. They do not 'get a vote' in my opinion.

I certainly don't know all the answers - but I want to begin to take action so I'm helping the Wolf-PAC guys out as its something I can agree with. Do they go far enough? Maybe not , but if we can get this done the future will be brighter for further changes in my mind.