The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case cleared the way for companies, unions and other special interest groups to spend unlimited funds to try to influence elections. The high court decision was based in large part on freedom of speech protection for corporations and organizations.
But no matter where you stand on the Supreme Court ruling, there’s one caveat. Even if you agree with the freedom of speech rationale, there’s a good chance with such advocacy advertising that you won’t always know who’s speaking.
Consider the early returns of this election season. In Kansas, for example, the identity of political advertisers is more of a mystery than in any other state, according to an Associated Press report. Kansas has the largest number of ads for state-level political office, such as lieutenant governors and state treasurers, from groups that do not disclose their donors. Secretive groups account for more than half of the spending in the state’s race for governor, and voters likely will never know who’s paying the freight.
Among the groups funneling money into political ads in Kansas are the Alliance for Freedom, Roadmap Solutions and the Kansas Values Institute. But little is known as to the people behind these organizations.
In an analysis released last week by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity, more than $9 million in ads have come from anonymous groups in races for governor and state legislatures in 16 states. And the bulk of the spending for the November elections is yet to come.
The witticisms of two late, great humorists come to mind. In Duck Soup–a film selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry–Groucho Marx, playing Rufus T. Firefly, the president of the country Freedonia, offered a perversely honest campaign promise, pledging that there will be “no graft unless I get my share.”
And Will Rogers once observed, “America has the best politicians money can buy.” Now, if only we could determine who’s doing the buying. Indeed some special interests are so special that we don’t know what interests or issues these hidden persuaders are looking to buy a measure of influence over.
In this day and age when marketers know so much about consumers, a select group of buyers literally has no identity to speak of.
