Pat Barcas/staff photographer
Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice speaks out on the day the Supreme Court announced its decision striking down caps on how much people can give in total to federal candidates and party committees.
By Pat Barcas
Staff writer
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Email Pat Barcas at pat@foxvalleylabornews.com
ELGIN — Even more money is about to enter elections.
April 2, the divided Supreme Court decided limits on aggregate political donations violated the constitutional right to free speech. The 5-4 decision was brought by Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon, as well as the Republican National Committee.
The McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision piles up the influence of the rich following the 2010 Citizens United ruling, which created SuperPacs — outside, mostly anonymous (if they want to be) groups that can funnel unlimited amounts of cash to influence elections.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who voiced with McCutcheon, said that “The government may not seek to limit the appearance of mere influence or access.” He said general influence is protected speech.
“I am very disgusted and broken-hearted that the Supreme Court stood on the side of wealthy individuals. The billionaires are going to run this country. Very few people are going to be in charge of our laws and elected officials,” said Kaye Gamble of Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice (NIJwJ). The group held a protest April 2 in Elgin against the decision. “The only people that are going to change it are voters. It’s not going to come from the top down.”
The old campaign finance laws were put on the books in the 1970s, limiting how much an individual can give to a candidate or parties in a single election cycle. The new decision will eliminate that and allow for donations from an individual to multiple campaign entities.
In short, it’s OK as long as the huge donation is spread around to multiple candidates, even if they are in the same party.
Laurie Nowak of the DuPage County Board attended the rally and called the decision “flat out dangerous.”
“Pawning off our democracy to the highest bidder has got to be one of the most un-American and un-Christian concepts there is. From the local level to the national level we must be vigilant about how big donations influence both election results and subsequent policy decisions,” she said.
“It’s bad enough to see this kind of thing on the county level, and it is flat out dangerous that the Supreme Court considers it constitutional for a wealthy few to drown out the voice of the poor, middle class, and even moderately wealthy citizens,” she explained.
Frank Esposito, an organizer from Occupy Naperville, said he wasn’t as worried about the decision.
“This is more of the same. We’re already on this path. This will change a few things, but it doesn’t change what we have to do, which is fight for a constitutional amendment. That’s the only thing that will override Congress and the Supreme Court,” Esposito explained.