The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice analyzed outside spending in Senate elections since 2010, the year the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC shook the campaign finance world.
When a chamber of Congress is up for grabs, we expect to see elevated levels of outside spending - the kind of spending deregulated by Citizens United. Because outside groups like super PACs and political nonprofits can take contributions of unlimited size, the increasing dominance of outside money is giving the wealthiest few Americans more and more control over the political process. The highest-spending super PACs depend overwhelmingly on large donations in the five- and six-figure range, amounts out of reach for all but a few Americans. Across all federal elections since Citizens United was decided in 2010, there has been more than $1 billion in super PAC spending. Just 195 individuals and their spouses gave almost 60% of that money - more than $600 million.
Spending by groups that do not fully disclose their donors - "dark money" - has more than doubled since 2010. Dark money too is focused on competitive races, where it composes well over a quarter of total expenditures reported to the FEC. When the source of election spending is hidden, voters cannot evaluate the trustworthiness of the messages they see, and the public cannot police potentially corrupting relationships between elected officials and their secret benefactors. Dark money in Senate elections has more than doubled since 2010, from $105 million in inflation-adjusted dollars, to $226 million in 2014. Almost half ($485 million) the $1 billion in 2014 dollars that outside spenders plowed into Senate elections over the past three cycles, was dark money. In the 11 most competitive races in 2014, dark money made up 59 percent of nonparty outside spending. In the 10 competitive races that we have candidate spending data for, dark money made up 28 percent of total spending (candidate, party, and outside group). The winners in the 11 most competitive races in 2014 together had more than $131 million in dark money support - 71 percent of the nonparty outside spending in their favor.
The Senate dark money winners in 11 toss-up Senate races were: Tillis (R-NC) $23,176,738 (82 percent) Gardner (R-CO) $22,438,090 (88 percent); followed by six Republicans averaging $12,370,666 (76 percent). Democratic winners average $3,876,00 (31 percent). Total dark money was $131,221,335 (71 percent). Percentage refers to dark money as part of nonparty outside spending.
'No-go zones?' Just don't go there
Fox News terrorism expert Steve Emerson claimed in an interview, "In Britain, it's not just no-go zones, there are actual cities like Birmingham that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in."
British Prime Minister David Casmeron said he choked on his porridge after hearing Emerson's claim that non-Muslims "simply don't go" to Britain's second-largest city.
Cameron said: "Frankly, I choked on my porridge and thought it must be April Fools' Day. This guy is clearly a complete idiot."
Emerson apologized. He also claimed "no-go" zones also existed in France and the U.S. While large populations of Muslim residents inhabit cities and towns affected by the rumor (and may adhere to religious custom in large numbers), no areas of England, France, or the U.S. currently allow the laws of any religion to override their own laws. Areas designated as ZUS (sensitive urban zones) in France are not exempted from policing or French law, and are simply targeted for renewal initiatives. Likewise, residents of Dearborn are not exempt from state or local law, regardless of the religion to which they adhere.
Chip Tuthill lives in Mancos. Website used: www.brennancenter.org