Campaign Cash: Sen. Jim DeMint’s Making a Mint with Corporate Cash

Campaign Cash Watch

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger

Corporate cash does funny things to people. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) got into office by pledging to fight “special interests,” but just a decade or so later, he’s running one of the biggest special interest shows in Washington. It’s easy to see the appeal. As the fancy funding backing the Tea Party demonstrates, big money buys big things—from elections to populist outrage.

In a piece for Mother Jones, Kate Sheppard details some of DeMint’s serious campaign finance flip-floppery. During his first bid for Congress in 1998, DeMint denounced the Political Action Committee (PAC) mechanism as a tool deployed by “special interests” that “corrupts” the electoral process. But today, DeMint is the single most important figure and fundraiser for Senate Tea Party races. He has endorsed and pledged millions of dollars to support fringe right-wingers Senate candidates Christine O’Donnell (Delaware) and Rand Paul (Kentucky). DeMint has funneled this money through his own Political Action Committee (PAC) known as the Senate Conservatives Fund. DeMint even pledged to “fight for reforms that allow only individual contributions to campaigns.”

But as I note in a blog for Campaign for America’s Future, DeMint isn’t the only power player pouring money into the Tea Party. DeMint’s 12 Tea Party Senate candidates have reaped over $4.6 million from Wall Street for this election—excluding Wall Street cash that has been funneled through DeMint’s PAC. So much for all that grassroots rage against bailed-out elites.

The Tea Party bubble

And Wall Street’s new Tea Party investment might just be the next big economic bubble. Joshua Holland at AlterNet surveys the campaign contributions of America’s bailout barons. The 23 firms that received at least $1 billion in bailout money from taxpayers spent $1.4 million on campaign contributions—in September alone.

And these are just campaign contributions, which are essentially unaffected by the high court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The real corporate money is running through front-groups that run their own ads—not the official campaigns operated by political candidates. And these front-groups don’t have to disclose where their money comes from.

Writing for Campus Progress, Simeon Talley highlights a frightening trend toward secrecy in U.S. elections, fueled by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Back in 2004, 98 percent of outside groups disclosed who their donors were. Today, that number is just 32 percent. We’re not just fighting corporate money bombs, we’re fighting secret corporate money bombs.

Who really has the advantage? … Continue Reading

MPR Poll Gives Dayton Huge Edge: Republican Rift Hurts GOP

Extremist Tea Party Views Could Hurt GOP With Swing Voters

Today’s Minnesota Public Radio-Humphrey Institute poll shows Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton running away from Tea Party-backed Republican Tom Emmer. Perhaps more telling, the poll reveals that Independence Party candidate Tom Horner (a former Republican) is gaining ground, and stealing crucial support from Emmer. Only a month ago, the MPR-Humphrey poll showed Dayton and Emmer tied with 34 percent each. But today’s tally gives Dayton an 11 percentage-point lead over Emmer — 38 to 27 percent. Horner has risen from 13 percent a month ago to 16 percent today.

The apparent rejection of Emmer by many Republican voters shows that what many political pundits have long suspected nationwide also holds true for Minnesota. The right-wing Tea Party, and its focus on eliminating government, and including Christian doctrine in Washington, is hurting the greater Republican Party’s chances of appealing to swing voters and winning back the Senate and the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections. Tea Party-backed Christine O’Donnell’s upset victory in Delaware’s Senate Republican primary election earlier this month punctuated this development.

The story of a growing rift within the Republican Party — between Tea Party extremists, and moderates who are driven more by fiscal policies than by bedroom politics — is playing out all over the country, and especially here in Minnesota, where Dayton, Emmer and Horner boast very different political visions. … Continue Reading

Rift Pits Tea Party Against Republican Moderates

Extremist Tea Party Views Could Hurt GOP With Swing Voters

Following Tea Party-backed Christine O’Donnell’s upset victory in Delaware’s Senate Republican primary election, what many political pundits have long suspected has become blatantly obvious. The right-wing Tea Party, and its focus on eliminating government, and including Christian doctrine in Washington, is hurting the greater Republican Party’s chances of appealing to swing voters and winning back the Senate and the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.

The story of a growing rift within the Republican Party — between Tea Party extremists, and moderates who are driven more by fiscal policies than by bedroom politics — is playing out all over the country, and especially here in Minnesota, where we have a three-way race for the governor’s mansion, between Democratic Farm Labor candidate Mark Dayton, Republican Tom Emmer and Independence Party hopeful Tom Horner.

Former Republican Governor Arne Carlson shook up the GOP establishment the day before O’Donnell’s victory in Delaware when he stood on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol and endorsed Horner — and not Emmer — to be Minnesota’s next governor. Carlson, who was considered a moderate and popular governor during his tenure in office from 1991-1999, feels that his moderate wing has been forced out of the Grand Old Party.

Carlson endorsed Barack Obama for President in 2008 — an unpopular move with the state GOP, and suffered even more abuse from the Minnesota Republican Party last week for endorsing an Independent candidate. Emmer, himself, refused to comment on Carlson’s perceived snub of the party. Over in Michigan, former Governor Bill Milliken — himself a popular and moderate Republican during his time in office — also laments the direction in which his party has gone.

Last week, political household names from Bill Clinton to Karl Rove weighed in on the growing rift within the Republican Party. Clinton said: “It used to be that Republicans were evidence-based, not dogma-based. They have thrown all that overboard. This is about dogma and big special interest under the guise of the Tea Party.” Rove told Fox News about O’Donnell’s victory: “I’m for the Republican, but I’ve got to tell you, we were looking at eight to nine seats in the Senate. We’re now looking at seven to eight. In my opinion, this is not a race we’re going to be able to win.” (Days later Rove retracted his criticism, perhaps out of fear of criticizing the Tea Party base.)

What will happen to the Republican Party, going forward, if the Tea Party maintains its stranglehold? “Let’s say Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in Congress,” foreshadowed Arne Carlson. “All of a sudden they’re going to have to start talking about what they are for.”

Related Links:

Rift Pits Tea Party Against Republican Moderates-Captioned Video

Rift Pits Tea Party Against Republican Moderates-Interactive Transcript

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