ITS LEGAL BUT WRONG FOR DEMOCRACY

In an advertisement, supporting Gov. Scott Walker, the small print at the bottom of the screen streamed the following words “Paid for by the Republican Governors Association”.  While listening to an advertisement damning the Democratic candidate for the Governor in the State of North Carolina, the very same words streamed across the bottom of the Screen. Can the Republican Governor’s Association legally contribute to political campaigns? Of course, they can. So what’s my gripe?

My gripe is that this association is using money collected from across the nation to influence state elections. We know it is legal but is it right that out-of-state money helps to decide who will be your governor or anyone else’s governor. The magic of a federation of states is that each state represents a different region of the country, which they can not do if controlled by a Washington, D.C. based association.  We do not allow foreign countries to contribute money to our elections unless it is a corporation such as Chevron headed by a foreign government but registered to do business in the U. S. as was allowed by the Citizens United (Roberts’s Court) Decision. So why do we allow people outside the state to become involved in state elections?

My second comment is even more basic but also more threatening. What interest does the Republican Governors Association have in seeing members of their political party head these states? The answer should be obvious: power. We have to go back to Newt Gingrich, who selected and financed representative candidates from across the nation with money he collected under his name. Remember he ended up controlling the House of Representatives, remember his Contract on America?  If you want to use a more recent reference, go to Karl Rove and the George W. Bush administration. He violated the law in Federal Judge Appointment; you cannot get an unbiased judgment if you are a Democrat in a wide majority of federal courts.  Nancy Pelosi’s error, as Speaker of the House, was that she did not throw him in to the Capitol jail when he refuses to testify about this problem. She did not stop the politicization of our courts; Republicans won just like the RGA wants to win.

The Republican plan is to create a permanent majority controlled so they can dictate to governor offices across the nation. They keep the governors in line with campaign financing. There are about 29 of them, but only a few are causing problems for our democracy: Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, John Kasich, and Rick Scott are four of them. Had they been successful they would add control of the governor’s offices to the control of Federal Judgeships, the Supreme Court, as well as the lower ranks of almost all cabinets even if a Democratic president appoints the head cabinet and agency officers. Congressional rulers prevent Obama from appointing unfilled vacancies. We are talking about low-level civil servants appointed by previous Administrations; the people who make it all happen but the presidential appointee can only do the job if they agree with what he decides. For example, low-level staff prevented a Surgeon General from giving a speech about family planning. If you still do not believe this then look into the Mineral Management Services during the Gulf of Mexico BP oil spill. If you still do not believe this look into the CFPA, SEC, FAA, FDA and even the Pentagon, etc, etc while paying particular attention to financial and business regulatory agencies. What they are doing is legal but is it wrong for democracy? Of course it is! But, why is it legal! It is legal because they have control of the courts.