Elections What Citizens United Has Brought - Page 3

Direckshun · 09-15-2012, 08:10 AM

Who could have seen this trend coming.

Color me shocked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/us...tors.html?_r=1

Obama Grows More Reliant on Big-Money Contributors
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Published: September 12, 2012

Kirk Wagar, a Florida lawyer who has raised more than $1 million for President Obama’s re-election bid, had his choice of rooms for the Democratic convention at Charlotte’s Ritz-Carlton or Westin hotels and nightly access to hospitality suites off the convention floor.

Jay Snyder, a New York financier who has raised at least $560,000 for Mr. Obama, was entitled to get his picture taken on the podium at the Time Warner Cable Arena.

And Azita Raji, a retired investment banker who has raised over $3 million for Mr. Obama — more than almost anyone else during the last two years — could get pretty much anything that she wanted last week in Charlotte: briefings with senior Obama officials, invitations to post-speech parties, along with “priority booking” at the city’s finest hotels.

In the race for cash, Mr. Obama often praises his millions of grass-roots donors, those die-hards whose $3 or $10 or $75 contributions are as much a symbol of the president’s political identity as they are a source of ready cash. But his campaign’s big-dollar fund-raising has become more dependent than it was four years ago on a smaller number of large-dollar donors and fund-raisers.

All told, Mr. Obama’s top “bundlers” — people who gather checks from friends and business associates — raised or gave at least $200 million for Mr. Obama’s re-election bid and the Democratic National Committee through the end of May, close to half of the total up to that point, according to internal campaign documents obtained by The New York Times.

The documents provide a detailed look into the intricate world of presidential fund-raising, which Mr. Obama and his team have mastered, and donor-stroking, which some supporters complain they have not. The campaign closely monitors its top bundlers, rating them by how much each individual or couple has raised and donated each year going back to 2007.

Officials used that amount, in turn, to offer donor packages of access and entertainment for the convention last week, themed to the location in North Carolina: “OBX” (bumper-sticker shorthand for the Outer Banks) for those raising at least $1 million, down to “Carolina on My Mind” for those who have donated merely $75,800 to Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee, the maximum allowed under federal law.

“It confirms everything we’ve always believed about the role of big money in politics,” said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group that tracks political fund-raising. “The more you give, the more you gather, the more you get.”

Each individual or couple is also assigned a lifetime Obama total. Topping the list is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood producer, who, along with his fund-raising partner, Andy Spahn, has brought in at least $6.6 million combined for the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, according to the documents.

The top fund-raiser for 2011 and 2012 is Andrew Tobias, a Miami-based author who is treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and a major bundler for Mr. Obama among gay donors. Terry McAuliffe, a former party chairman and Bill Clinton loyalist, shot into Mr. Obama’s top bundler ranks this year after he and Mr. Clinton agreed to hold a Virginia fund-raiser for Mr. Obama. He has raised about $2.2 million for Mr. Obama, according to the documents, more than all but a few supporters.

Because not all of Mr. Obama’s bundlers are represented through the end of May, the documents may understate the total that top supporters have raised for Mr. Obama. But even so, they reveal how dependent even Mr. Obama — whose grass-roots fund-raising machine is unrivaled in political history — is on a relative handful of wealthy individuals raising millions of dollars on his behalf, often while having significant business or legal interests before the Obama administration.

Among the top 10 fund-raisers on the list for 2012, for example, are Steve Spinner, a former Department of Energy official who pushed the White House to approve a $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra, the failed solar power company.

DreamWorks Animation, the studio Mr. Katzenberg leads, is among several in Hollywood that earlier this year were notified of an investigation into whether entertainment companies had made illegal payments to officials in China in connection with their dealings there.

Mitt Romney has fielded an equally formidable high-dollar fund-raising machine this year and could raise as much or more than Mr. Obama during the election cycle. Like the Democrats, Republicans offered big donors an array of perks at their convention, held in Tampa, Fla., last month, including choice hotel access, boat trips and access to Mr. Romney himself.

Mr. Obama already makes public the names of his bundlers, along with ranges for how much they have raised, a practice not required by law. Mr. Romney has declined to release such information, though monthly disclosures filed by his campaign suggest that he is even more dependent than Mr. Obama on big bundlers and donors who have given the legal maximum.

“Our major volunteer fund-raisers, as well as the ranges of contributions they raised, were previously made public because unlike Governor Romney, we disclose them on our Web site,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Mr. Obama.

Mr. Obama’s publicly disclosed categories stop at the $500,000-and-up level, however. The internal documents show that at least 60 individuals and couples reside in an even more elite club, having raised more than $1 million for Mr. Obama and the party.

They include Frank White Jr., a technology entrepreneur who has raised $2.3 million for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign; Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, who has raised $2.7 million; Robert Wolf, a former executive at UBS Americas, the banking company, who has raised about $1.3 million; and Reshma Saujani, a lawyer who is running for New York City public advocate next year and is active among young larger donors, who has raised about $1 million.

About 260 of the bundlers did not raise any money for Mr. Obama during his 2008 campaign, according to the document. That reflects the extraordinary effort Mr. Obama made to recruit new fund-raisers for his re-election effort, as former supporters lost enthusiasm or moved on to other pursuits.

But it also reflects the number of former fund-raisers whom Mr. Obama appointed to ambassadorial and other posts, leaving them barred from political activities.

**BigRedChief** · 09-15-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Dipshit!! An activist SC would be one that looks into the feasibility of enforcement and regulatory provisions in the offhand possibility that a law might somehow someday be violated.

I was generalizing but they were activist in this case too. I don't give a shit what the SCOTUS rules, secret money donated to political campaigns is not free speech and corporations are not people.

Some of the comments the SCOTUS justices are making in open court are a cause for concern. An article from the washington post from the recent health care case is below in bold.

You may have a different opinion, but there are others that have the same concerns and we are not all dipshits.

Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator, excuse me, Justice Samuel Alito quoted Congressional Budget Office figures on Tuesday to talk about the insurance costs of the young.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts sounded like the House whip in discussing whether parts of the law could stand if other parts fell. He noted that without various provisions, Congress “wouldn’t have been able to put together, cobble together, the votes to get it through.” Tell me again, was this a courtroom or a lobbyist’s office?

**BigRedChief** · 09-15-2012, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RINGLEADER

Part of me thinks Romney is going to raise a half-billion and spend about $50 Million and then pocket the rest...lol

I know that was a joke but isnt that legal to do? They cant keep it like income but they can give it away later to any political pac, correct?

Baby Lee · 09-15-2012, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I was generalizing but they were activist in this case too. I don't give a shit what the SCOTUS rules, secret money donated to political campaigns is not free speech and corporations are not people.

Some of the comments the SCOTUS justices are making in open court are a cause for concern. An article from the washington post from the recent health care case is below in bold.

You may have a different opinion, but there are others that have the same concerns and we are not all dipshits.

Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator, excuse me, Justice Samuel Alito quoted Congressional Budget Office figures on Tuesday to talk about the insurance costs of the young.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts sounded like the House whip in discussing whether parts of the law could stand if other parts fell. He noted that without various provisions, Congress “wouldn’t have been able to put together, cobble together, the votes to get it through.” Tell me again, was this a courtroom or a lobbyist’s office?

Wish I had a better gauge on whether you are educable or not. There are real, rooted, answers to what I think you are trying to discuss, but your fervor, scattershot rationales, and hyperbole make it tough to judge whether you understand, or even can, the core issues at all.

Pitt Gorilla · 09-15-2012, 09:02 PM

Has anyone actually claimed that corporations are people?

**BigRedChief** · 09-15-2012, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Wish I had a better gauge on whether you are educable or not. There are real, rooted, answers to what I think you are trying to discuss, but your fervor, scattershot rationales, and hyperbole make it tough to judge whether you understand, or even can, the core issues at all.

Why beat around the bush? Just tell me I'm too stupid to learn anything.

I'm in the majority of opinions on this issue. We are not lawyers. We dont know a 501 C statue from that Liberty one. But we know right from wrong. We can see that corporations are not people and money as free speech is not protected in the constitution. The current activist judges decided that 200+ years later.

**BigRedChief** · 09-15-2012, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Has anyone actually claimed that corporations are people?

Mitt Romeny, havent you seen the video of him at the Iowa fair?

Pitt Gorilla · 09-15-2012, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Mitt Romeny, havent you seen the video of him at the Iowa fair?

I haven't, but I can't believe he would claim something that stupid.

Hoover · 09-15-2012, 09:07 PM

Super PACs have to disclose their donors, C4's don't.

Baby Lee · 09-15-2012, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Why beat around the bush? Just tell me I'm too stupid to learn anything.

I'm in the majority of opinions on this issue. We are not lawyers. We dont know a 501 C statue from that Liberty one. But we know right from wrong. We can see that corporations are not people and money as free speech is not protected in the constitution. The current activist judges decided that 200+ years later.

Do you even realize that this is not remotely what you were arguing so little as 1/2 hour ago?

Ask anyone around here. I can express things cogently and competently. But it gets more and more tiresome to try to do that when the other end is "oh, yeah, well what about xxx, well what about yyy, what about zzzz, that's bullshit [no explanation, just a blanket rejection, leaving me to then try to suss out a line of reasoning], yeah well [buzzwords wildly off topic or so general as to lose all meaning]."

**BigRedChief** · 09-15-2012, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hoover

Super PACs have to disclose their donors, C4's don't.

I know Republicans are really happy this year with the Koch brothers, Addelson and other billionaires allowed to give as much money as they desire. Yet, are you with the others here that don't see any danger to our political process?

Hoover · 09-15-2012, 09:14 PM

Hell there is danger in the old system. How do you ensure that small dollar contributions are not from foreign people.

Baby Lee · 09-15-2012, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I know Republicans are really happy this year with the Koch brothers, Addelson and other billionaires allowed to give as much money as they desire. Yet, are you with the others here that don't see any danger to our political process?

Damned foreigners!!!

**DoucheMcCloud** · 09-15-2012, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

.

This has been killing me forever: Who's the guy in your avatar?

He looks like Matt Damon. Well, if Dr. Frankenstein had put him together.

Baby Lee · 09-15-2012, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

This has been killing me forever: Who's the guy in your avatar?

He looks like Matt Damon. Well, if Dr. Frankenstein had put him together.

Willie Geist. Was sitting next to Mark Halperin when he had to apologize for calling Obama a dick.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/willie...pproving-glare

**DoucheMcCloud** · 09-15-2012, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Willie Geist

Thanks!

09-15-2012, 08:10 AM
Direckshun Black for Palestine Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Springpatch Casino cash: $1166575	What Citizens United Has Brought Who could have seen this trend coming. Color me shocked. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/us...tors.html?_r=1 Obama Grows More Reliant on Big-Money Contributors By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE Published: September 12, 2012 Kirk Wagar, a Florida lawyer who has raised more than $1 million for President Obama’s re-election bid, had his choice of rooms for the Democratic convention at Charlotte’s Ritz-Carlton or Westin hotels and nightly access to hospitality suites off the convention floor. Jay Snyder, a New York financier who has raised at least $560,000 for Mr. Obama, was entitled to get his picture taken on the podium at the Time Warner Cable Arena. And Azita Raji, a retired investment banker who has raised over $3 million for Mr. Obama — more than almost anyone else during the last two years — could get pretty much anything that she wanted last week in Charlotte: briefings with senior Obama officials, invitations to post-speech parties, along with “priority booking” at the city’s finest hotels. In the race for cash, Mr. Obama often praises his millions of grass-roots donors, those die-hards whose $3 or $10 or $75 contributions are as much a symbol of the president’s political identity as they are a source of ready cash. But his campaign’s big-dollar fund-raising has become more dependent than it was four years ago on a smaller number of large-dollar donors and fund-raisers. All told, Mr. Obama’s top “bundlers” — people who gather checks from friends and business associates — raised or gave at least $200 million for Mr. Obama’s re-election bid and the Democratic National Committee through the end of May, close to half of the total up to that point, according to internal campaign documents obtained by The New York Times. The documents provide a detailed look into the intricate world of presidential fund-raising, which Mr. Obama and his team have mastered, and donor-stroking, which some supporters complain they have not. The campaign closely monitors its top bundlers, rating them by how much each individual or couple has raised and donated each year going back to 2007. Officials used that amount, in turn, to offer donor packages of access and entertainment for the convention last week, themed to the location in North Carolina: “OBX” (bumper-sticker shorthand for the Outer Banks) for those raising at least $1 million, down to “Carolina on My Mind” for those who have donated merely $75,800 to Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee, the maximum allowed under federal law. “It confirms everything we’ve always believed about the role of big money in politics,” said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group that tracks political fund-raising. “The more you give, the more you gather, the more you get.” Each individual or couple is also assigned a lifetime Obama total. Topping the list is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood producer, who, along with his fund-raising partner, Andy Spahn, has brought in at least $6.6 million combined for the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, according to the documents. The top fund-raiser for 2011 and 2012 is Andrew Tobias, a Miami-based author who is treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and a major bundler for Mr. Obama among gay donors. Terry McAuliffe, a former party chairman and Bill Clinton loyalist, shot into Mr. Obama’s top bundler ranks this year after he and Mr. Clinton agreed to hold a Virginia fund-raiser for Mr. Obama. He has raised about $2.2 million for Mr. Obama, according to the documents, more than all but a few supporters. Because not all of Mr. Obama’s bundlers are represented through the end of May, the documents may understate the total that top supporters have raised for Mr. Obama. But even so, they reveal how dependent even Mr. Obama — whose grass-roots fund-raising machine is unrivaled in political history — is on a relative handful of wealthy individuals raising millions of dollars on his behalf, often while having significant business or legal interests before the Obama administration. Among the top 10 fund-raisers on the list for 2012, for example, are Steve Spinner, a former Department of Energy official who pushed the White House to approve a $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra, the failed solar power company. DreamWorks Animation, the studio Mr. Katzenberg leads, is among several in Hollywood that earlier this year were notified of an investigation into whether entertainment companies had made illegal payments to officials in China in connection with their dealings there. Mitt Romney has fielded an equally formidable high-dollar fund-raising machine this year and could raise as much or more than Mr. Obama during the election cycle. Like the Democrats, Republicans offered big donors an array of perks at their convention, held in Tampa, Fla., last month, including choice hotel access, boat trips and access to Mr. Romney himself. Mr. Obama already makes public the names of his bundlers, along with ranges for how much they have raised, a practice not required by law. Mr. Romney has declined to release such information, though monthly disclosures filed by his campaign suggest that he is even more dependent than Mr. Obama on big bundlers and donors who have given the legal maximum. “Our major volunteer fund-raisers, as well as the ranges of contributions they raised, were previously made public because unlike Governor Romney, we disclose them on our Web site,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama’s publicly disclosed categories stop at the $500,000-and-up level, however. The internal documents show that at least 60 individuals and couples reside in an even more elite club, having raised more than $1 million for Mr. Obama and the party. They include Frank White Jr., a technology entrepreneur who has raised $2.3 million for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign; Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, who has raised $2.7 million; Robert Wolf, a former executive at UBS Americas, the banking company, who has raised about $1.3 million; and Reshma Saujani, a lawyer who is running for New York City public advocate next year and is active among young larger donors, who has raised about $1 million. About 260 of the bundlers did not raise any money for Mr. Obama during his 2008 campaign, according to the document. That reflects the extraordinary effort Mr. Obama made to recruit new fund-raisers for his re-election effort, as former supporters lost enthusiasm or moved on to other pursuits. But it also reflects the number of former fund-raisers whom Mr. Obama appointed to ambassadorial and other posts, leaving them barred from political activities.
Posts: 37,496

09-15-2012, 09:02 PM	#34
Pitt Gorilla Banned! Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: NOT Columbia, MO 65201 Casino cash: $86438	Has anyone actually claimed that corporations are people? __________________ That rabbit is crazy; I'm Brian Waters! Kotter: "You are lucky I'm truly not the vindictive or psycho type...I'd be careful from now on, and I'd just back the hell off if I were you....otherwise, the Mizzou "extension office" life might get exciting" Kotter: "You're just gay. G-A-Y. Gay."
Posts: 18,403

09-15-2012, 09:07 PM	#38
Hoover Rufus Dawes Jr. Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $41239	Super PACs have to disclose their donors, C4's don't.
Posts: 7,768

09-15-2012, 09:14 PM	#41
Hoover Rufus Dawes Jr. Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $41239	Hell there is danger in the old system. How do you ensure that small dollar contributions are not from foreign people.
Posts: 7,768

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