PAC

I received a glossy mailer from VA today portraying McIntyre as one of the prime causes of high gas prices. This hit piece from the HQ of the Young Guns outlined McIntyre's votes against allowing drilling in the Artic and his pro-environment votes. Rouzer wasn't mentioned and the mailer said it wasn't paid for or endorsed by any candidate. Since most Republicans like Mike, I guess they're simply hoping to keep control of the House and any bigot will do.

Cross-posted from a Facing South post by Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest

Election day is upon us, but more than five million American citizens will not be able to go to the polls because they have been convicted of a felony and thus stripped of their voting rights. Yet there is another group of felons and other malefactors whose participation in the electoral process has been enhanced rather than curtailed: corporate criminals.

Corporations vote with their dollars, and thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, they have more influence in elections than ever before. That includes corporations that have been convicted of crimes or regulatory violations, settled similar charges without admitting guilt or otherwise run afoul of the law.

Here are some of the leading corporate criminals that are active participants in the electoral process. The figures on their political spending are no doubt understated, given the various ways that companies can now invest in elections and keep it secret.

The Republican Governors Association wasted no time setting up an Independent Expenditure Committee called the RGA NC 2008 PAC to receive and spend unlimited amounts of money from individuals to run ads for Pat McCrory in the wake of court rulings and subsequent recent changes to North Carolina election law. A Statement of Organization was filed 5/19/08 and the PAC already has $387,380 on hand from out of state donors ready to spend in support of McCrory

Corporate funds are prohibited for independent expenditures but, according to IRS records, the Republican Governors Association 527 Political Committee received $135,000 from North Carolina corporations in the first half of 2008.

One thing I think we can all take away from this primary election is the pivotal role that PACs play in the selection of our leaders. Whether you consider them a conduit for corporate manipulation or an essential tool for collective bargaining, they represent a powerful element of our system, and simply cannot be dismissed or ignored.

In a recent discussion, captsfufp made some observations:

PAC Donations according to the FEC...

Kay Hagan... $146,000
Jim Neal.... ZERO

So which one is the people's candidate and which one is the special interest candidate?

The UNC Tarheel today quotes Kay Hagan as saying not taking special interest PAC money is "unrealistic."

I have been doing some research on Joe Boylan. After attending the debate between Boylan, Galloway and Shaver, there was something he said that piqued my interest.

“I believe that most of my contributions have come from individuals.” To find out if this was correct, I went to the State Board of Elections (SBOE) website. They have this really nifty tool there, “View Campaign Finance Reports”. You just fill in a name and go to their disclosure reports.

The “individual” contributions do in fact out number the PAC and "other" contributions. Let’s look a little closer. His total individual contributions add up to $77,933.59, of that sum only $19,091.52 were donated by Moore County residents.