Candidates Who Shun Corporate Cash Are Winning

A number of travel firms offer a "democracy tour" of Washington, DC. They'll buzz you through the White House, let you behold the ornate grandeur of the Senate and House chambers, give you a peek into the marbled halls of the Supreme Court, and generally introduce you to symbols of American political power. But to see actual political power in today's system, you'd need to take what amounts to an "antidemocracy tour," following the money trail through our Capitol City. Unfortunately, tourist buses don't go there.

To see money power at work, you could take a five-minute walk from the gleaming dome of the Capitol building to the Republican and Democratic party headquarters. In both, there are banks of small offices (fancy cubicles, really), each with a table, a couple of chairs, and a phone. This is where our stalwart lawmakers spend an inordinate amount of their time telephoning corporate executives, lobbyists, and other special interests, methodically asking each of them to give or raise $5,000, $50,000, $500,000 -- or more -- to fund their re-election campaigns. It's not unusual for senators to spend three hours a day, three days a week holed up in these dark spaces, doing nothing but making money call after money call to a list of wealthy elites.

Also missing from the Gray Line tours are the secluded watering holes, restaurants, and unmarked private clubs where lobbyists routinely host a full schedule of breakfast, brunch, lunch, cocktail, and dinner fundraisers for members of Congress. GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff is one who specialized in these greet-gulp-and-grab functions, holding so many that he opened his own restaurant to handle the traffic.

It's a corrupt, virulently antidemocratic system in which private money buys multiples of public money. Private interests -- overwhelmingly corporate -- put up millions of dollars in campaign funds each election cycle...and, in turn, the beholden recipients deliver billions of dollars to self-interested donors through public subsidies, contracts, tax breaks, regulatory favors, and other financial gains.

This is the "pay to play" system of Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, and others who got caught reaching too openly into the goody bag. But it is also the system of those not yet caught, even of some who speak loudly about the need for reform (as long as "reform" doesn't go so far as to interrupt the cash flow).

This is the problem with the "sweeping" reform package recently passed with great fanfare by the new Democratic majority in Congress. The provisions are nice, but good grief, didn't any of our lawmakers have kindergarten teachers? Having to tell members that it's a no-no to take free rides on corporate jets, winging off on all expenses- paid golfing junkets with lobbyists, is a measure of how far ethics have sunk in Washington -- and such bans are certainly no solution to the actual problem.

The power that lobbyists wield over legislators will be undiluted with the Democrats' package, for, while it sweeps broadly, it doesn't touch the one filthy spot that truly matters: campaign donations. If a lobbyist says to a member, "Back my bill, or I won't buy you dinner," that's not a lot of swat. But for a member to be dependent on a lobbyist for raising a half-million bucks or so for the next election...well, that's swat with some thunder and lightning in it. It's instructive that only hours after changing the House rules last month to stop lobbyists from doling out certain freebies to lawmakers, Democrats celebrated. How? With a fundraising gala that drew some 200 check-writing lobbyists, still free to pay and play.

Grassroots rebels

Well, say the cynics, the Democrats' hypocrisy just shows that you can't change the system -- special interests will always find their way around any restrictions reformers can dream up. Horsestuff. Look to the states and cities, and you'll find examples of citizens reclaiming their politics and government from the exclusive grasp of the monied powers.