Citizens United case already bearing its rotten fruit

The can of worms that we all expected to be opened after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, allowing virtually unlimited campaign spending, has occurred. Campaign finance watchdogs are calling for the IRS to investigate the non-profit status of two so-called “issues” organizations, the Crossroads GPS and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Federal Elections Commission is supposed to oversee the legality of these organizations campaign activities, but has been too far politicized itself to do anything. In order to receive tax-exempt status, such organizations must be “non-partisan” and claim no political affiliation or directly support or oppose a particular candidate. But count on Karl Rove (who should be in prison, but apparently has a lot of dirt on a lot people), the principle backer of Crossroads, to thread the needle as finely as possible, hoping that no one will notice. Crossroads is classified as a “social welfare” organization under the federal tax code, which is patently absurd on its face. The organization’s website might suggest “social welfare” for corporations, but otherwise it is nothing more or less than a transparent front group targeting the administration and Democratic lawmakers. Its blatant partisanship is clear enough from its word-for-word parroting of the same right-wing talking points and bald-faced lies and deceptions we’ve heard ad nauseum over the past two years, and its cross-country attack ads on exclusively Democratic candidates merely reinforces the point.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not only accepting “contributions” from foreign companies to help influence elections in this country, but is actively soliciting those contributions. The legality of the Chamber’s activities is a subject of debate, but the total lack of ethics in the matter appalls the mind. The watchdog group StopTheChamber is calling for the Justice Department to “shut down” this “criminal organization once and for all.” As with all right-wing organizations, when it comes to maintaining power and influence, the law is merely an inconvenience to be skirted, or ignored.

U.S. tax laws state that organizations like Crossroads GPS and the Chamber cannot be political or participate or intervene in political campaigns if they desire to be classified as untaxed nonprofits that can spend unlimited funds and keep donors’ identities private. This is the can of worms that the Supreme Court has opened. All these groups have to say is that they only run “issues” ads, and they can do whatever they like without any oversight whatever. Both of these organizations are so blatantly partisan—and the Chamber has been so since its creation—and have such potent resources to draw on, that unless they are reigned-in now, the U.S. electoral process (thanks to the blatantly extreme right majority on the Supreme Court) will make a typical Italian or Third World election look like the very model impartiality and honesty.