I am constantly amazed how journalists misreport campaign finance issues. After reading the article in the Pueblo Chieftain titled "Incestuous" I took some time to ground myself, and think of what I wanted to write as a response to such nonsense. I am hoping everyone takes the time to read this, so for those purposes I will refrain from my usual language. If you haven't read that mess you can see the piece here: http://m.chieftain.com/mobile/opinion/editorials/incestuous/article_36d9155e-7303-11e1-8c29-0019bb2963f4.html
The opinion piece references an article in the Denver Post that was both incomplete and inaccurate. It reports that liberal Independent Expenditure groups spent 150 times more money than the conservatives. This statement is simply absurd! The right wing, conservative forces move more money through 527s than independent expenditures, and they also move a lot of their money through their 501(c)4s, which do NOT report donors. The charge that big oil, payday lenders and Wall Street are being outspent by unions is just silly. The right wing is just more interested in hiding their money, while our side (labor, in case you didnt know what side im on!) believes in transparency and accountability. All of these negative assertions are being put forward because conservatives do not have a positive agenda to promote, and they can only point fingers at the successful campaign operations of their opponents. I would also imagine fear is a large factor in the deceptive and critic nature of their general arguments!
Corporate interests have always outspent unions by more than 10 to 1. Union members ability to pool their meager resources together is the only way to stem the gigantic tide of corporate spending and support an agenda for ALL working families. The rise of super PACs (political action committees), following the Citizens United decision, has seen that disparity grow. It is difficult to track how much more the Koch brothers and other big Wall Street interests groups are outspending unions, but conservative Super PACs have already spent $76 million and raised $121 million. Liberal Super PACs have only raised $23 million (source: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php). And the campaign season has just started…in fact, election day is 223 days away!
As a union member, I also believe strongly in supporting policies and candidates that help ALL working families. While we do support positions that directly help our members, our larger effort is directed at improving the quality of life for all working families. A recent example of this is the Lilly Ledbetter Act. This act expanded workers rights to include equal pay for women! Did I mention this act helped ALL women not just union women! Corporate interests would have women working the same job, with the same duties, for less pay! This makes sense to them because it's a profit issue NOT a people issue. So, while organized labor is pooling their money so people like Lilly Ledbetter can be compensated at a rate that is EQUAL of her male counter parts, what is the GOP spending their money on?
Lastly, I would like to comment on the irresponsible lazy journalism in our local paper! Instead of doing their own research, they rely on the skewed, inaccurate reporting of the Denver Post. Is our editorial board too lazy to do their own research and provide the people of Pueblo with accurate reporting, or will they continue to take the information that best suits them and go off on tangents to mislead the public?! That is my rant for the day hope that helped shed some light on this issue! Until the next post…..
-Josa
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