A few days after new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson endorsed the Congressional Leadership Fund, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reminded Senate Republicans who’s in charge, warning them not to sign on to a bill with Josh Hawley aimed to end Citizens United. Certainly, Senate Republicans will heed McConnell’s message, not bite the hand that feeds them.
American families are struggling. The cost of living is skyrocketing. Interest rates are the highest in decades. The national debt is over $33 trillion or about $100,000 per American citizen. The world is on the brink of war. McConnell is using his power to represent special interests instead of the interests of the American citizens.
If speech is free, why is it for sale? If the representative represents the people, then why do the people have to pay just to get in the room?
Hawley’s bill doesn’t stand a chance of getting through the Senate. Jeffrey Blehar in the National Review calls it a “publicity stunt rather than a serious attempt to legislate.” Regardless of stunt or legislation, it’s of the utmost importance that Americans understand the issue of campaign finance.
Citizens United was a culmination of several campaign finance cases brought before the court that have shaped our modern political environment. It hasn’t always been this way — campaign finance is a relativity new problem in America. The modern campaign that we see today has evolved over time.
The first candidate to campaign for themselves was Aaron Burr, during the second presidential race against John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It wasn’t until our seventh president, Andrew Jackson, that campaigns embraced our democratic nature and began driving out the vote. The emphasis on fundraising was introduced during the William McKinley campaign of 1896, managed by Mark Hanna. Hanna is famous for saying, “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can’t remember what the second one is.” Hanna used corporate money to drown out McKinley’s opponents, raising up to an estimated $16.5 million from big donors like John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan.
As a result, Congress passed the first significant campaign finance legislation in 1907. The Tillman Act was the first federal law that prohibited corporations from making direct financial contributions to federal election campaigns.
The PAC system was born from the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in 2010. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the First Amendment’s protection of free speech included corporations’ and unions’ right to spend money supporting political candidates or issues. This led to the rise of superPACs, which can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and individuals but are not allowed to coordinate directly with parties or candidates. It gives an advantage to any candidate who has friends with deep pockets and allows corporations to pay for their own representatives.
The focus on fundraising has shifted the focus of our leaders. According to Zephyr Teachout, in her book “Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United,” representatives spend “between 30 and 70 percent of their time” fundraising. This is time that should be spent speaking with constituents or debating policy.
McConnell’s reaction to Hawley’s bill is unsurprising, as it threatens his power. McConnell is the modern-day equivalent of a party boss. A party boss is a leader in a political party who has significant influence and control over decisions, nominations and other party functions, achieved through a combination of political connections, patronage and the ability to mobilize party members and voters.
Party bosses rose to power with Boss Tweed and Roscoe Conkling during the Gilded Age. They rewarded supporters with government jobs, contracts and other favors, ensuring loyalty and consolidating their power base. They controlled powerful political machines, Tweed with Tammany Hall and Conkling with the New York Custom House. These organizations were hierarchical and disciplined, ensuring that orders were followed and that the rank and file worked to get out the vote, sometimes through questionable means. They were about power and control, not service and debate.
McConnell’s rise to party boss started shortly after the 2008 financial crisis. While other members like Chris Dodd and Bob Corker were working on legislation to prevent another crisis, McConnell used the opportunity to curry favors with Wall Street in hopes they would become financial donors to Republicans. McConnell is a master of parliamentary procedure, using the threat of the filibuster and demanding cloture votes routinely as dilatory tactics to avoid legislating. His knowledge of the system, combined with the deep pockets of Wall Street, propelled McConnell to the top of the Republican Party.
What would happen if McConnell used his wizardry of parliamentary procedure and fundraising expertise to focus on paying down the national debt? McConnell entered the Senate in 1985, when the debt was $1.82 trillion. Since then, he’s focused on gaining power for himself and donors, and the debt has soared.
It’s clear McConnell has a lot of power, and Citizens United helped him gain that power.
McConnell’s political machine is the superPAC. He uses his power to represent the party’s interests and special interests — not the interests of the American citizens. If Americans want politics to represent the people, campaign finance reform is needed, allowing them to be part of the conversation again. If Hawley’s stunt helps citizens realize this, then it’s a stunt worth pulling.
Jeff Mayhugh (@jmayhugh28) is the co-founder of the Madisonian Republicans and a former congressional candidate for Virginia’s 10th congressional district.