It is joyfully apparent to me that money alone cannot win an election. The super PACs that spent hundreds of millions of dollars (2 to 1 for Romney) were repudiated this election.

Karl Rove – the head one of the biggest pro-Romney super PACs - on Fox News Tuesday night was practically insane in his protest that Fox News had declared Obama the winner too early. There was a man who couldn’t come to grips with the fact that the money he collected and spent like a drunken sailor did not deliver the election to Romney. It worked in the past, but no …

Read more »

King George’s imperialist plundering of the colonies sparked the first American Revolution. Today the looters come from within as well as abroad.

The Bush regime prepared the invasion by softening up the targets at home (attacks on civil liberties, corporate regulation and social programs). Halliburton’s refined the neo-colonial process. First, funnel the treasury into their Iraqi accounts. Then outsource jobs and hide the cash in offshore accounts.

In the 2012 elections, bully billionaires returned to invade with boatloads of money rather than imperial armies. They use super PACs to purchase those elections which ensure they retain control over their latest …

Read more »

We are getting closer to the Gilded Age of American history of the late 1800s, when the wealthy lived in extreme opulence and the majority of Americans were wondering where the next meal was coming from.

When 47 people account for 57.1 percent of the $230 million raised by super PACS – which mainly support Republicans – and more than 1,000 donors giving $10,000 or more were responsible for 94 percent of the super PAC money raised, I say our elections are being bought.

When I see many Americans voting against their own economic self-interest, which has been true since …

Read more »

Re: “Voters should beware of super PAC money” (letter, 6-16).

The writer had some good comments about super PACs but didn’t go far enough. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allows unlimited campaign spending by groups with huge resources.

The ruling equated political spending with free speech and gave these groups the same free speech rights as individual citizens. In doing so it may have honored pure free speech principles but, I think, did a great disservice to our democracy.

In a political system where each citizen is free to speak his opinion, the court has given a …

Read more »

I’ve been severely disappointed with how many political candidates are taking advantage of super PACs and the unlimited amount of money they can provide.

Super PACs are harming our democracy. They are funded by anonymous donors. With mystery money, voters have no idea who is trying to influence our decision. This secret money goes against the very tenets of fair democratic elections.

Congressional candidate Denny Heck has pledged to keep super PACs out of Washington state. Every honest candidate should take that same pledge. With secret money funneled through super PACs, how can we ordinary voters know who to trust? …

Read more »

We applaud The News Tribune’s editorial warning that the 2010 Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court now threatens to hijack even judicial campaigns – along with this year’s elections – with super PAC spending.

We need public financing of campaigns at every level, including judicial campaigns at state levels where judges are elected. To roll back judicial decisions such as Citizens United that have authorized and empowered super PACs and the hijacking of our political process by great wealth, we need an aroused citizenry and a constitutional amendment. It may seem a daunting task to recapture democracy …

Read more »

As a Republican turned Democrat I’ve been aware of the high cost of campaigns but state and national politicians had to adhere to strict campaign donation limits from individuals and organizations.

The Citizens United Supreme Court decision last year changed all that. Now companies are people, and unlimited campaign donations are “free speech.” Google the names of the supporters of Republican presidential candidates: Mitt Romney (Frank VanderSloot), Rick Santorum (Foster “aspirin between the knees” Friess and William Dore), Newt Gingrich (Sheldon Adelson, the anti-union casino owner) and Ron Paul (Libertarian Peter Thiel).

All of these men are hiding under the …

Read more »

Re: “Myths only serve to add confusion over super PACs” (Robert J. Samuelson column, 2-21).

I find it very interesting that in a column about super PACs, Samuelson fails to mention the U.S. Supreme Court decision that brought them about. In 2010′s Citizens United v. FEC decision, the court determined that corporations are essentially people, and the super PAC was “born.” This followed the Buckley v. Valeo ruling that defined money as speech, and thus could not be limited.

These two court decisions combined to break the back of the campaign finance reform laws that were achieved amidst the …

Read more »