A Commentary on the Passing Scene by Robert Paul Wolff rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
EARLY MONEY IS LIKE YEAST
This saying, for those who don't know, is the origin of the acronym "Emily," as in "Emily's List." And in politics, it is true. Your money has a greater weight in primaries than in the general election, and it has a greater impact early than late. Our attention recently has been focused on Republican primary challenges from the right, but there are beginning to crop up some very interesting Democratic primary challenges from the left. I have recently given $100 to Bill Halter, challenging the extremely conservative Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, and another $100 to Tarryl Clark, running for the Democratic nomination to take on Michele Bachmann. Halter raised a million dollars in forty-eight hours after ActBlue and Daily Kos highlighted his challenge. If you are as frustrated as I by the Blue Dog Democrats who have highjacked health care and other issues, this is a good way to strike a blow for progressive principles. Also, keep an eye on Bart Stupak, who may be challenged in his district by a pro-choice pro-health care Democrat. This is the transformative effect of the Internet.
Financial support of parties is subject of great debate over here at moment(Non doms issue to be precise) and I was wondering if anyone can tell me about accountability of parties to disclose sources over there?
ReplyDeleteAre same sources obliged to divulge residential status information; do they reside(and pay tax) in the U.S etc etc
The requirements for disclosure in the U.S. may change again, whatever they have been, since the Supreme Court ruling in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This recent ruling makes restrictions of corporate spending in campaigns a violation of free speech. To try to overcome the effects of this ruling, there may soon be more reporting and disclosure requirements passed by Congress. This ruling also prompted President Obama to criticize the Supreme Court in his State of the Union Address in January. Yesterday the Chief Justice John G. Roberts responded with his own criticism of Obama.
ReplyDeleteIn my view, this position will help strengthen Obama and the importance of a Democratic President, if only for the benefit of the next vacancy in the Supreme Court.
Many thanks for response Ann, it seems such matters are highly contentious on both sides of water.
ReplyDeleteTrouble erupted here after a conservative peer(who naturally holds a Belizean passport) had promised over 9 years ago to end his non dom status but must have forgotten in the past whirlwind of a decade to do so.("Honey, did you put the cat out" ..yeah. "Honey, did you turn off the tv"...yeah. "And you applied for full British citizenship"....Damn and bugger it, knew I had forgotten something )
I`ll see what I can find about Citizens versus Federal....Fascinating, thanks again ;-)
Ok. What is non dom status? It obviously isn't non-denominational, so I figure it is non domicile, yes?
ReplyDeleteYou`re correct Professor, the term refers to non domiciles
ReplyDelete