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Mission: To Promote and Defend Citizens' First Amendment Political Rights of Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition
Mission: To Promote and Defend Citizens' First Amendment Political Rights of Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition
By
Geoffrey A. Fowler
Jan. 18, 2017 1:17 p.m. ET
21 COMMENTS
You can also find out who or what funded the officials representing you. There’s been
great work at digitizing campaign finance information on opensecrets.org and, on a state
level, followthemoney.org. I learned the largest 2016 donor to my congresswoman,
Nancy Pelosi, was Facebook.
Putting “Dark Money” In Context
Total Campaign Spending by Election Percentage Percentage
Election Cycle Cycle Spending by Spending by
(in Millions) Political Nonprofits
$7,000 Committees (“Dark
$6,260
$5,977 Money”)
$6,000
2005-2006 99.8% 0.2%
Total Spending (Millions)
$5,184
$5,000
$4,000
$3,496 $3,667 2007-2008 98.1% 1.9%
$3,000
$2,848
2009-2010 96.3% 3.7%
$2,000
$1,000
2011-2012 95.1% 4.9%
$136 $309 $178 $184
$5 $102
$0
2005-2006 2007-2008 2009-2010 2011-2012 2013-2014 2015-2016
2013-2014 95.4% 4.6%
Spending by Political Committees
Spending by Nonprofits 2015-2016 97.1% 2.9%
Google lists 321 news items with the word “oligarchy” included in the search,
1010 with just the authors Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page.
The Oligarchy Study, Debunked
Google lists 1 news item, a rebuttal by the study’s original authors, which was
in response to a Vox blog post summarizing three studies showing the
Gilens/Page study was wrong.
Citizens and the Media, the Same Rights
• The press has no greater rights under the First
Amendment than ordinary Americans.
• Nearly all media organizations are corporations.
• Anonymous sources and associational privacy are
important for democracy.
• Money facilitates speech, and all media outlets
need money to operate.
• Suggesting that political speech should be
regulated erodes respect for all speech, including
that of the media.
Justices Black, Douglas and Warren, dissent 352 US 567
United States v. UAW-CIO