WHO’S BUYING OUR MIDTERM ELECTIONS?

WHO’S BUYING OUR MIDTERM ELECTIONS?

Part 1

 

March 21, 2014

http://billmoyers.com/episode/whos-buying-our-midterm-elections/

                Who’s Buying our Midterm Elections?

March 21, 2014

Two investigative journalists talk to Bill about the role of dark money — and the wealthy donors behind it — in this year’s midterm elections.

LISTEN VIDEO

In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to issue another big decision on campaign finance, one that could further open the floodgates to unfettered and anonymous contributions, just as the Citizens United case did four years ago.

This week Bill speaks with investigative journalists Kim Barker and Andy Kroll about the role of dark money — and the wealthy donors behind it — in this year’s midterm elections.

Already, three times as much money has been raised for this year’s elections as four years ago, when the Citizens United decision was announced. “This is the era of the empowered ‘one percenter’. They’re taking action and they’re becoming the new, headline players in this political system,” Kroll tells Moyers. Kim Barker adds, “People want influence. It’s a question of whether we’re going to allow it to happen, especially if we’re going to allow it to happen and nobody even knows who the influencers are.”

Barker is an investigative reporter with the independent, non-profit news organization ProPublica and Andy Kroll is a journalist in the Washington bureau of Mother Jonesmagazine.

Producer: Gina Kim. Segment Producer: Lena Shemel.Editor: Sikay Tang.

2-

Remembering Tony Benn and His Five Little Questions  March 17, 2014  by Michael Winship

http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/17/remembering-tony-benn/

“In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person — Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates — ask them five questions: ‘What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?’ If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.” 

3-

FOR MORE, GO TO : http://billmoyers.com/category/blog/money-politics/  :

What You Need to Know About Dark Money   March 21, 2014

How the States Are Trying to Rein in Dark Money   March 21, 2014

Will New York Lead the Way in Campaign Finance Reform?   March 20, 2014

Who Controls the Kochs’ Political Network? ASMI, SLAH and TOHE   March 19, 2014

Scott Brown Ditches “The People’s Pledge” for Dark Money   March 18, 2014

On the Money: Giving Big   March 13, 2014

On the Money: A New Gilded Age   February 27, 2014

Celebrities, European Leaders Push for Final Deal on Wall Street Tax  Feb. 19, 2014

Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble Moved the Kochs’ Cash into Politics and Made Millions o2/18/14

Why the First Issue Is Money in Politics  February 14, 2014

From American Hustle to the Super PAC Hustle  February 7, 2014

Campaign Cash Fueling GOP Civil War  The GOP’s intra-party war  February 5, 2014

How Democrats Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Citizens United  January 31, 2014

An Icy New Hampshire Walk Sparks a New Movement to Get Money Out of Politics  01/27/14

=========