Again, Money Follows Power

“Follow the money,” Deep Throat whispered. The trail led right to the Nixon White House.

Follow the money today and where does it lead? To political winners, according to a new study of fund-raising and spending during the 1996 election campaign. Water flows downhill. Political money flows toward power.

And the amount of money continues to grow, having soared to $2.2 billion in the 1996 campaign for the White House and Congress. Is there anyone who believes that no favors or special considerations were expected, perhaps demanded, in exchange for all that money?

The spending analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics found that corporate political action committees and executives of large corporations generally gave more to Democrats than to Republicans until 1994. Then the GOP gained control of both houses of Congress and the money flow reversed.

For example, the communications and electronics sector of the economy gave 57% of its donations to Democrats in 1994 but 70% to Republicans in 1996. Labor unions remained loyal to the Democrats, directing 90% or more of their funds to them.

The study confirmed a big growth in so-called soft money, the unlimited and largely unregulated contributions to political parties. In 1996, soft money totaled $262 million, triple the amount in 1992. This past year, Republicans got $138 million and Democrats $124 million. The absence of strong controls over soft money is an invitation to abuse, particularly for foreign sources seeking to spirit money illegally into American election campaigns. The major impact of reform legislation now before Congress would be to ban soft money.

As for the $2.2 billion spent in 1996, there’s no surprise it was a record. In addition to inflation, the pressure to spend ever more money is fed by a growing number of competitive elections and the high cost of television advertising, the basic staple of campaigns.

At some point, the public will get fed up with the obscene amounts pouring into politics and demand strict reform. This ought to include free television time for candidates who agree to observe spending limits.

The first step for Congress early next year is to stop the use of soft money. Then the pols must understand that their obsession with winning at all costs is destroying their public credibility and undermining the entire political system. If broader reform is not achieved soon, we’ll all be losers.