Hillary Clinton is set to make a Citizens United vow that could potentially undo the controversial Supreme Court ruling that resulted in the proliferation of Super PACs — shadowy groups that allow corporations and unions to make unlimited contributions to political campaigns.
While Hillary has promised to address Citizens United on several other occasions, Saturday’s announcement was the first time she had concretely laid out her plan of attack: the use of a Constitutional Amendment to get dark money out of politics. Furthermore, Clinton promised to make it happen within the first 30 days of her presidency, according to an official statement published in Politico.
“The amendment would allow Americans to establish common sense rules to protect against the undue influence of billionaires and special interests and to restore the role of average voters in elections.”
. @HillaryClinton proposes constitutional amendment to tackle Citizens United https://t.co/8ryW7XM6r5 pic.twitter.com/MPTN8IFovL
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 16, 2016
The move is one in a series of staunchly progressive policies underlined by Hillary’s campaign this week, including another proposal to make college tuition free for households that make under $125,000 a year. Many believe that these offerings are meant to bait the “Bernie or Bust” supporters who feel that Clinton is too conservative to deserve their vote. In the case of Citizens United, some may find the gesture hollow.
After all, in the race for the Democratic nomination, Hillary was repeatedly criticized by Sanders for accepting money from such groups. When confronted with such charges at primary debates, Clinton often agreed that the system of campaign financing was corrupt and in need of reform. Yet upon closer analysis, reporters have often found a different story: Hillary’s campaign runs on a steady flow of the same kind of financing that she agreed needed to be stopped.
One particularly damning report came from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Center for Public Integrity earlier this year. Just in 2015, the four leading pro-Hillary Super PACs had raised more than $86 million for her 2016 presidential run. Clinton’s future goals on the issue of Citizens United seem to be at odds with the way she is using it in the present, noted the report.
“While Clinton rails against ‘unaccountable money’ that is ‘corrupting our political system,’ corporations, unions and nonprofits bankrolled by unknown donors have already poured millions of dollars into a network of Clinton-boosting political organizations. That’s on top of the tens of millions an elite club of Democratic megadonors, including billionaires George Soros and Haim Saban, have contributed.”
Still, Hillary’s campaign has noted that the current political climate created by Citizens United makes it exceedingly difficult to win a campaign while taking a moral stand against accepting such donations. In a world of Donald Trump and the Koch brothers, a Democratic candidate must take some dirty money to stay afloat. What’s important, the Clinton campaign argues, is that after this election, the rules will change.
A few months ago, The Atlantic asked whether or not Hillary could take on Citizens United to change the way money moves through American elections. It asked of Clinton to take on a hard-line stance against such funding, a challenge she appears to have accepted. Now, voters are left asking themselves if her commitment is genuine.
“The question is not whether Hillary Clinton is a criminal. Of course she is not. The question is whether she can carry the mantle of a reformer. Can she really stand above the cesspool that is Washington—filled not with criminals but with decent people inside a corrupted system trying to do what they think is good—and say, this system must change. And does she really see the change that’s needed, when for the last 15 years, she has apparently lived a life that seems all but oblivious to exactly Washington’s problem.”
Memory Jog: Citizens United “all began with a low-budget film about Hillary Clinton” https://t.co/r3GuJILJHe
— Bryon Evans (@stldesktop) July 7, 2016
Do you think Hillary Clinton will stick to her Citizens United vow?
[Image via Andrew Harnik/AP Images]
