Do you think there is too much money in politics? Tough luck.
“You are officially certified as the $120 million man,” Politico’s Mike Allen said to Bush during an on-stage interview at a summit of GOP mega-donors.
“What’s the question?” Bush deadpanned.
“How much is too much?” Allen pressed.
By now, hopefully, you are familiar with the fact that Jeb Bush pretended not to be running for president for a good long while for no other reason than that it allowed him to raise money for his Super PAC. This is called a violation of the spirit of the law, and lawyers can always help you get around the letter of the law. If you have a problem with skirting the rules?
“Money helps. I’m playing by the rules of the game the way it’s laid out,” said Bush, who worked with the political committees before officially becoming a candidate. He also sent several of his former top advisers to outside groups to manage the unlimited cash machines. “If people don’t like it, that’s just tough luck,” he added.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself that no gives a shit about the arcana of campaign finance rules, but I thought that, too, before I read Stan Greenberg’s piece in last month’s Washington Monthly. Take a look:
Three-quarters of voters in the twelve most competitive Senate battleground states in 2014—states flooded with campaign money—support a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling. Three in five of those voters support “a plan to overhaul campaign spending by getting rid of big donations and allowing only small donations to candidates, matched by taxpayer funds.” The American citizenry has become progressively more supportive of barring big donors and corporate mega-contributions and using public funds to empower small donations. Even in the face of charges that public funding is “welfare for politicians,” voters in the midterms said that they would rally to a candidate who argues that “we need a government of, by and for the people—not government bought and paid for by wealthy donors.”
I’m still having troubling accepting these numbers, but if they are correct then Bush’s big haul of big-donor money and his skirting of the campaign finance laws are significant potential liabilities. He probably needs a better comeback than “Tough luck.”
