Scott Walker: martyr to the cause
by digby
All you have to do is read the breathless editorials in the Wall Street Journal characterizing the Wisconsin “John Doe” case a a violation of “civil rights” to know that Scott Walker’s troubles are being used as a test case to blow the lid off of what’s left of our campaign finance laws. I wrote about it here and here for Salon. I think Walker might be collateral damage …
This piece in the Huffington Post spells out how that will likely play out:
Following Randa, the Supreme Court could find it unconstitutional to apply anti-coordination rules to issue advocacy in state and federal campaigns. This would essentially “eviscerate campaign contribution limits” across the country, Hasen told HuffPost.
There are national groups ready and willing to take advantage of another Supreme Court strike against campaign finance law.
In the 2014 midterm elections, groups controlled by the Kochs, including Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, have already spent tens of millions of dollars on ads attacking Democratic candidates in Senate battleground states. These ads are generally designed to meet the standards for issue advocacy.
In a world where the circumvention of coordination rules “should not and cannot be condemned or restricted,” as Randa wrote, the Koch-linked groups could coordinate messaging in these issue advocacy spots and plan advertising buys with the campaigns they support. In effect, federal candidates and their campaigns would be able to direct the operations of groups that can accept checks for $10 million or $20 million from secret donors.
The hits just keep on coming.
The only bright spot in all this is that it’s likely to take Scott Walker down in the process. All this dirty laundry may end up being scrubbed but it won’t remove the odor of corruption that’s clinging to Walker and his pals.