[EL] "Majority" of Spending by "A Tiny Minority of Private Citizens?"

[BZall at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/11/2012 4:39:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jcushman at gmail.com writes:

we're  going to keep having to talk about what, if anything, we should do 
about  highly-concentrated political spending, where a tiny minority of 
private  citizens direct the majority of paid speech. That's the question of the  
day


What an odd question, even in the context of the hypothetical being asked.  
I'm sure you don't mean it the way the actual numbers show:
 
According to the New York Times, 
_http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance_ (http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance) ,  as of 
today, the presidential candidates themselves have raised over $330  million. 
President Obama alone has raised $173 million. Although some reports  suggest 
he's been having trouble raising money, there's every expectation he'll  
approach one BILLION dollars in joint campaign and DNC spending. The candidate 
 known to 2% of Americans as having the first name of "Mittens" will  
likely raise and spend some significant percentage of the President's haul, say  
$500 million between campaign and RNC spending. 
 
Compare that to the superPACs (which I guess you're referring to).  
According to today's Wall Street Journal, _http://projects.wsj.com/super-pacs/_ 
(http://projects.wsj.com/super-pacs/) ,  superPACs have raised $85,894,000. 
Some reports suggest that superPAC spending  might top $400 million in 2012. 
 
Not sure what form of mathematics shows that $86 is a "majority" of $259  
(presidential and superPACs combined). Or perhaps $400 as a "majority" of 
$1900. 
 
American political spending has long been dominated by "a tiny minority of  
private citizens" directing "the majority of paid [political]  speech." 
They're called candidates. 
 
(And their political consultants. "Senior advisor" David Ploufe and  his 
cohorts are going to "direct" much more than any other "tiny minority"  of 
Americans. It's his job, and he seems to be quite good at it.)
 
And doesn't that suggest that the answer to your question of the day is:  
nothing. 
 
 
Barnaby Zall
Of Counsel
Weinberg, Jacobs & Tolani,  LLP
Please note our new address:
10411  Motor City Dr., Suite 500
Bethesda, MD 20817
301-231-6943 (direct dial)
_www.wjlaw.com_ (http://www.wj/) 
bzall at aol.com



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