‘Citizens United’ isn’t the problem

Published 7:47 pm Monday, October 7, 2013

Thomas Friedman, of the New York Times, is often — but not exclusively — a thoughtful, deliberate writer. He makes some of the left’s best arguments.

But his latest column falls short in many ways. In casting about for reasons for the government shutdown, he once again castigates the U.S. Supreme Court and its Citizens United decision. Though there’s no evidence at all that Citizens United has ruined politics or swayed any elections, Friedman says that combined with redistricting, Citizens United has allowed Republicans to “create (their) own alternate universe.”

He writes that donor Sheldon Adelson “was able to contribute so much money to support Newt Gingrich’s candidacy that Gingrich was able to stay in the Republican presidential primary race longer than he would have under sane campaign finance rules. As a result, Gingrich was able to pull the G.O.P.’s leading candidate, Mitt Romney, farther to the right longer, making it harder for him to garner centrist votes.”

That’s an interesting theory, but where’s the evidence? Gingrich played the gadfly, but any effect he had on Romney’s policies was negligible. In fact, Gingrich at one point was attacking Romney from the left, running ads in South Carolina criticizing Romney’s Bain Capital and spotlighting companies that Bain shuttered. That didn’t send Romney running away from free market capitalism.

But Friedman goes on.

“Last month, for the first time ever in Colorado, two state senators who voted for universal background checks on gun purchases lost their seats in a recall election engineered by gun extremists and reportedly financed with some $400,000 from the National Rifle Association,” he writes. “You’re elected, you vote your conscience on a narrow issue, but now determined opponents don’t have to wait for the next election. With enough money, they can get rid of you in weeks.”

In fact, the Colorado recall elections were democracy at work. The state constitution allows for voters to respond to actions taken by their legislators they don’t agree with.

And that $400,000 spent by the NRA? The fact is that gun control supporters vastly outspent the recall supporters.

“The shocking defeat Tuesday night of two state lawmakers in Colorado’s first-ever legislative recall election despite a 7-1 spending advantage by gun control proponents represented a double blow for Democrats,” the Washington Times reported. “Senate President John Morse and state Sen. Angela Giron lost their seats despite massive outside help from gun control forces, led by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.”

Those groups, including Organizing for America, took advantage of the Citizens United decision just as much as the NRA did.

The facts show that Citizens United isn’t the bogeyman the left claims. Even Friedman’s own newspaper acknowledges this.

The New York Times reported last year that despite the big spending (by both sides) in the 2012 presidential election, “the prizes most sought by the emerging class of megadonors remained outside their grasp. … President Obama will return to the White House in January, and the Democrats have strengthened their lock on the Senate.”

Money doesn’t buy elections. And Citizens United isn’t what’s wrong in Washington.