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Mitt, Son of Citizens United
  • DeMarquis January 2012 +1 -1 (+1 / -0 )
    A really good article by a U of California professor describing how big money has captured the Romney campaign: http://robertreich.org/

    From the article:

    "...In the last weeks before the just-completed Iowa caucuses, Romney spent over $3 million relentlessly torpedoing Newt Gingrich with negative ads — cutting Gingrich’s support by half and hurtling him from first place to fourth. But Romney kept his fingerprints off the torpedo. Technically the money didn’t even come from his campaign.

    It came from a Super PAC called “Restore Our Future,” which can sop up unlimited amounts from a few hugely wealthy donors without even disclosing their names. That’s because “Restore Our Future” is officially independent of the Romney campaign — although its chief fundraiser comes out of Romney’s finance team, its key political strategist was political director of Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign, its treasurer is Romney’s former chief counsel, and its media whiz had been part of Romney’s media team..."

    I suppose "captured" isn't really the right word. That might imply some inclination on Romney's part to resist the influence of big donors, but really he always was their creature, a true blue member of the 1%.

    I encourage you to scroll on and read his equally excellent essay on the decline of the public good: the lack of a spirit of public service is exactly what I think is wrong with the 1% now.