How the Wealthy Have Turned State Elections All Over America Into Their Own Personal Playgrounds

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http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/how-wealthy-have-turned-state-elections-all-over-america-their-own-personal



The 2012 election has become a political extreme sport for wealthy individuals and corporate America, as they have blown off whatever’s left in campaign finance laws and have strutted on the electoral field as the rest of us watch like spectators from the cheap seats. But what’s not fully appreciated is how the plutocrats’ stampede doesn’t stop with the presidency, but is playing an outsized role in many down-ballot and state races.

“People who are trying to buy influence in the political system do not stop at the federal level,” said Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the Sunlight Foundation’s reporting group, one of the best investigative teams covering money in politics. “Lots of times the states become a very appealing route because it doesn’t take much money.”

In many respects, the down-ballot impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has taken a back seat as the fight for the White House has ruled the airwaves. But because less is known about these ‘lower-level’ contests, and because they are in smaller media markets, big money can go even further to upend the process.

Denise Roth Barber, research director at the National Institute for Money in State Politics said that Citizens United is just the best-known of many court rulings in recent decades that have made it possible for a range of wealthy players to become opportunists in elections—some of whom are individuals who are willing to take public stances while others are more secretive financiers who bankroll groups that hide their identity.

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1. I'll give this 1 kick. Nt

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2. This year we have the new primary that allows two candidates with most votes to move to general

so two Democrats running in my district. The incumbent is being challenged by an anti-choice pro-charter schools so-called Democrat with millions to spend. His wife actually sent every woman in the district a whiny letter crying about how unfair we are all being to hate him.

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3. +1