The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 14, 2010 Page: 2 of 59
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THURSDAY 1 4 DCTDBER ZD 1 □
THE CANADIAN RECORD
RECORD
ESTABLISHED 1393
INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 1993
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FOR COURAGE. TENACITY B INTEGRITY
IN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
The case for fair elections
By David Brndwin
THIS YEAR, THE UNITED STATES Supreme Court reversed years of precedent lim-
iting how corporations may spend money to influence elections. This decision will sub-
stantially increase the importance of corporate influence in politics—both in determin-
ing who gets elected and how they decide once they are in office.
As executives, owners, investors, and business professionals involved in sustainable
and socially responsible business, we must ask ourselves: Are we helped by this greater
freedom to spend our companies' money to influence campaigns? Or has the Supreme
Court handed out some poisoned candy? Is this new ability to buy political support good
for business—or does it set us back in our efforts to do business responsibly and promote
a vibrant, just, and sustainable economy?
Despite appearances, the gutting of campaign finance rules is more likely to hurt
than to help. The main issue is not whether businesses can or cannot spend their money
on elections. The main issue is which particular businesses and industries will dominate
the spending, and whether the ideas they will promote are good for our businesses and
good for the nation.
Unfortunately, opening the floodgates to corporate spending on elections will make
it harder, not easier, for sustainable and socially responsible businesses to get what they
need—and harder for America to get what it needs from these businesses.
That's because the money that will flood the political system will not represent the
views of companies in green America. Instead, the money that will flood the system
will come from organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is expected to
spend more than $200 million this year on lobbying and direct campaign expenditures.
This organization and others like it represent companies that don't value responsible
business. Is this the kind of business thinking that we want to dominate our political
discourse?
Ask yourself: Which type of business represents the future? Which type of business
should speak most loudly in the political debate? We cannot build an economy of the fu-
ture based on outmoded ideas and values. As executives, owners, and investors in social-
ly responsible and sustainable businesses, we believe there is a right way and a wrong
way to do business. We do not pursue growth at any cost, nor profit without regard to
people and planet. We seek economic policies that make it easier and more profitable to
do business the right way, and we know that these policies will make it harder and less
profitable to do business the wrong way.
Another important business value is transparency. Corporate donations should be
fully disclosed. It's not healthy to force legislators to collect secret donations, for which
they then owe Secret favors. This "pay to play" system destroys American's faith in gov-
ernment and can destroy our democracy.
The ranks of sustainable and socially responsible businesses are growing rapidly-
but we are still outnumbered by the "business as usual" crowd. Unless we act, corporate
money of the wrong kind will swamp campaigns. This money will not represent enlight-
ened business leadership. It will not enhance U.S. competitiveness in the global econ-
omy. Many important initiatives such as reforms that support Main Street over Wall
Street, health care and insurance reforms, product safety standards, better public edu-
cation, and renewable energy advances will all be in jeopardy if we do not improve the
election finance system.
So what's the solution? Congress has introduced the Fair Elections Now Act to neu-
tralize the corrupting influence of special interest donations and make it possible for
legislators to focus on the people's business rather than on fundraising. This bi-partisan
measure has been approved in Committee and now awaits passage by the full House of
Representatives.
The proposal has been carefully crafted to survive constitutional challenge at the
Supreme Court. It does not bar private funding of campaigns, but it provides the option
for candidates to run for Congress using a blend of small private donations and limited
public funds, including a four-to-one federal match on donations of $100 or less. Candi-
dates could finance a viable campaign based primarily on contributions from their local
grassroots base of supporters. Candidates would not need to depend on special interests
who expect to obtain influence in exchange for cash.
We can't build an economy that works if our democracy is broken. Congress needs to
pass this vital reform.
Campaign finance reform is a crucial step toward building an economy that supports
and rewards responsible and sustainable business. This is essential if we are to create
the economy we want and need today, and be proud of what we're leaving for the genera-
tions to come.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Brodwin is co-founder of the American Sustainable Business
Co uncil, a national coalition of busi ness networks that advocates for a vibrant, just
and sustainable economy.
BELL^
IF YOU PLAN TO VOTE in the November 2 elections, and
are baffled by the blather of political commercials and ads that
have been funded by massive infusions of corporate cash into
this year's campaigns, it's time to grow up and educate yourself
rather than allowing yourself to be spoonfed such pre-digested,
regurgitated pablum. Here are some helpful tips, passed along
by our friend A1 Cross, publisher of The RuralBlog (http://irjci.
blogspot.com/):
Check out FactCheck.org (www.factcheck.org) and Politi-
fact.com (■fMwwspoMtifact.com), Fact Check is a project of the
Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsyl-
vania and is run by Brooks Jackson, a former reporter for CNN
and The Wall Street Journal. Politicfact, which won a Pulitzer
Prize last year, is a service of the St, Petersburg Times but like
FactCheck looks at ads in many states. And even if those ads
aren't in your state, they are probably making some of the mis-
leading claims being made in your state.
FactCheck's latest posting looks at ads being run in several
states by American Crossroads, the group founded by former
George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove. The ads "attack Demo-
crats running for Senate seats in Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Ne-
vada, Missouri and New Hampshire," Viveca Novak writes.
"The ads contain a number of misleading and false claims,"
including one in Ohio that says the economic stimulu s didn't cre-
ate jobs. It did fail to keep unemployment below 8 percent, as
President Obama said it would.
Politifact analyzes not just ads, but politicians' statements,
and its latest post, by Angie Drobnic Holan, says Obama exag-
gerated his record on his campaign promises in a "friendly in-
terview" with Rolling Stone.
An interesting article in the Washington Post last week
reports that interest groups are spending five times as much
on the 2010 congressional elections as they did on the last mid-
terms, and they are more secretive than ever about where that
money is coming from.
Another report in this week's Wall Street' Journal informs
us that Honeywell, a manufacturer with a big presence in aero-
space and defense contracting, has doled out $3 million in fed-
eral campaign contributions for next month's elections. Those
donations have already exceeded the amount distributed to can-
didates during the entire 2008 presidential election.
Big money is trying to buy your vote in the upcoming elec-
tion, and will surely expect something substantial in return for
the gold they've poured into the successful candidate's cam-
paign coffers. It's nothing new, but it is increasingly dispropor-
tionate in its impact and influence to that of the ordinary citizen
like you and me.
If you are a Texas voter and want to know more about the
candidates whose names you will see—some for the first time—
on ballots next month, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters
of Texas publishes a Voters Guide to the 2010 General Election.
It is available—in both English and Spanish versions—online
at voww.lwvtexas.org, and provides a well-balanced and concise
compilation of background information about each statewide
candidate along with his or her responses to several issues-re-
lated questions. It profiles candidates from Republican, Demo-
cratic, Libertarian and Green Parties, and is a helpful aid that
can be taken into the voting booth, if you choose.
They don't shriek. They point no fingers and sling no mud.
Their content is well-measured, their tone civil. If you pick your
candidates onYouTube, don't even bother. But if you would like
to know more about the candidates that are about to take charge
of our future, you might just give FactCheck or Politifact or the
League's Voters Guide a good long look some day in between
television commercials.
The Record will publish its candidate endorsements in next
week's issue.
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 14, 2010, newspaper, October 14, 2010; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220861/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.