[EL] ELB "Money Buys Silence on Climate Change"

[Sean Parnell]

The article by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy seems a little - odd. And I'm not
talking about the apparent contradiction of her buying property and moving
to an area that she seems to think will be underwater in a few decades (the
economic concept of revealed preferences seems illuminating here).

 

One, in arguing about the alleged power of 'dirty energy' money to stifle
debate, she manages to avoid mentioning the name Tom Steyer. Curious. I
mean, if you're going to claim that great gobs of money from the bad guys
are buying off politicians, it might at least be worth considering whether
there's any money on the other side buying off riding to the rescue of the
good guys.

 

Two, she reacts with shock and horror that "climate change deniers receive
3.5 times as much money from
<http://earthjustice.org/features/getting-a-clean-power-plan> "dirty energy
sources" than the rest of Congress." Well, yes, people tend to donate to
candidates that share their views. It's probably why Carolyn Maloney doesn't
receive a lot of money from people connected to the firearms industry, and
Jim Inhoffe shouldn't be looking for too many contributions from those in
the alternative energy industry (a glorious case of rent-granting in action,
but that's for another day).

 

The truth is, a majority of voters has not yet concluded that the policies
favored by Ms. Torres-Spelliscy are needed. For some, that might spur calls
for greater outreach, education, persuasion, and other efforts that might
help guide a majority of voters to the "right" conclusion on this issue. For
at least some in the "reform" community, it seems to mean enacting a legal
regime that would prohibit or at least severely restrict those with
alternate views from sharing their perspective. Fortunately the First
Amendment still stands between Ms. Torres-Spelliscy and "deniers" who
haven't yet endorsed the approved orthodoxy.

 

Sean Parnell

President

Impact Policy Management, LLC

6411 Caleb Court

Alexandria, VA  22315

571-289-1374 (c)

sean at impactpolicymanagement.com

 

Posted in  <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18> election administration,
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60> The Voting Wars,
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9> voter id,
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15> Voting Rights Act


 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=65547> "Money Buys Silence on Climate
Change"


Posted on  <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=65547> September 16, 2014 2:50 pm
by  <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen

 <http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/money-buys-silence-climate-change> Ciara
Torres-Spelliscy blogs.

 
<https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F
%3Fp%3D65547&title=%E2%80%9CMoney%20Buys%20Silence%20on%20Climate%20Change%E
2%80%9D&description=> Share 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20140917/b87d5d89/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1504 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20140917/b87d5d89/attachment.png>