It sounds like the set-up for a joke: “six Catholics and three Jews walk into a bar . . .” Only we are talking about the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s six Catholic members are: Atonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Sonia Sotomayor.
The first five of these Catholics gave us Citizens United, declaring that corporations are people, and unlike you, can spend unlimited amounts of money to corrupt our political process.
It turns out that the “Felonious Five” are crosswise with Pope Frank on Citizens United. C’mon Frank! Make them repent and say 300 rosaries for penance. Jeanne Cummings writes at Bloomberg, The Pope v. Citizens United:
Campaign finance reformers have been on a steady losing streak in the courts and Congress. But they may finally have found a champion who can elevate their cause: Pope Francis. “We must achieve a free sort of election campaign, not financed,” the Pope told an Argentine magazine in an interview released this week. “Because many interests come into play in financing of an election campaign and then they ask you to pay back. So, the election campaign should be independent from anyone who may finance it.”
To drive his point home, the Pontiff added: “Perhaps public financing would allow for me, the citizen, to know that I’m financing each candidate with a given amount of money.”
The Pope’s remarks come in the midst of corruption scandals in his native Argentina. But American advocates of curbing the influence of big money in politics were eager to seize on his message. “We have just gained a great new ally with a worldwide voice for public financing campaigns,” said Fred Wertheimer, founder of Democracy 21. “We greatly appreciate his words and wisdom on this subject.” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi similarly embraced the Pope’s “call for an end to the contaminating influence of money in our democracy.”
* * *
Brian Burch, president of Catholic Vote, a conservative group with half a million members [Big whoop; there are 69,436,660 registered Catholics in the United States (22% of the US population) according to the American bishops’ count in their Official Catholic Directory 2013], interpreted the Pope’s campaign finance rhetoric as a product “of exasperation with a culture of corruption in his home country, and perhaps others.” Burch noted, however, that there is no official church doctrine on funding campaigns. “It remains perfectly acceptable for Catholics in the United States to prefer our own election system that relies on voluntary donations, robust free speech and transparency,” he said.
The Catholics on the Supreme Court no doubt agree. Catholic Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas formed a majority that has dismantled campaign finance regulations on First Amendment grounds — including the court’s ruling in the Citizens United case, which paved the way to unrestricted spending on electioneering. (Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, another Catholic, dissented in the case.)
“The Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to unlimited spending by corporations, unions and individuals,” said Trevor Potter, president of the Campaign Legal Center. “But what the Pope is pointing out is that it doesn’t have to be the only way elections are funded.”
The Pope will have an opportunity to expand on his campaign finance views in September when he is scheduled to speak before a joint session of Congress. He was invited to appear by House Speaker John Boehner and Pelosi. Both are Catholic.
Give ’em hell, Frank! The Pope will issue an Encyclical on The Environment in advance of his trip to the U.S. in September, where he will address the United Nations General Assembly. The U.N. General Assembly is expected to agree on a new set of sustainable development goals running until 2030. Then the Pope will enter the den of thieves and address a joint session of Congress, where his views on political corruption and campaign financing, his opposition to trickle down economics and inequality, and his support for social and economic justice should make Tea-Publicans’ heads explode. Must see TV!
How cool is Pope Frank — he even has a Facebook page! VIVA IL PAPA: Pope Francis I | Facebook.
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If we truly did get rid of the “…contaminating influence of money in our democracy…”, Nancy Pelosi would be among the first to cry foul. Of course, what Democrats are complaining about is any money that they can’t get her hands on. This so called “dark money” is only one source of funding and it happens Democrats are not very good at collecting it. If they could figure out how to get at it, the furor over it would disappear in an instant.
A non sequitur, the last refuge of blog trolls.
Steve, I generally think the BlueMeanie’s retorts to you are unnecessarily, well, mean. And nasty. But in this case I feel his pain. Your comment was a non-sequitur. I don’t believe the reversal of Citizens United is a magic bullet, but there’s little question in my mind it’s a cancer to our democracy. And your point doesn’t alter that reality. Yes, if the Democrats could raise the same dark money the Republicans do, they would. And it’s not like there’s zero Citizens United money flowing to Democrats now. But Citizens United still would be a cancer to our democracy.
Implicitly, you’re assuming that Democrats and Republicans always are oppositional forces. They’re not. And they’re especially not oppositional on many of the issues that matter most to those who contribute the huge dollars to campaigns.
The bottom line is that your comment went nowhere, and BlueMeanie called you on it.
No doubt excessive campaign money is a problem but let’s not forget money spent lobbying . I’ve seen it claimed that ten times as much is spent on lobbying as on campaigns. That figure may or may not be accurate but whatever the correct figure is we all know it is huge. It would be incorrect to say all lobbying is bad, after all The Sierra Club, labor unions, and all kinds of “good” organizations lobby, but at least we should have clear and prompt release of information about lobbying efforts. The Governor’s calendar would be a good place to start!
Best congress and Arizona legislature money can buy. Now we will get the best corporation commission APS can buy. Free $peech, ain’t it wonderful.