top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Corrupting influence of big money in politics and presidential campaign

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com)
On Jan. 17, during the Democrat’s debate, presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders did well to confront candidate Hillary Clinton for accepting political contributions from Wall Street, and hundreds of thousands of dollars from Goldman Sachs, for speaker fees. Is candidate Hillary Clinton little more than a right-wing corporate stooge, posing as a so-called moderate Democrat, who will say anything to get elected?
Corrupting influence of big money in politics and presidential campaign

By Lynda Carson - January 19, 2016

Oakland - It was disgusting to see how the KTVU Fox 2, 10:00 o’clock news, waited till 10:30pm before they offered the viewers any coverage of the Jan. 17 presidential debate, that involved the Democratic National Party. Fox news totally disrespected the Bay Area with their lack of debate coverage that lasted around a minute, or less.

In comparison, barely a few days earlier, on the 10 o’clock news, the KTVU Fox 2 commentators were gushing with admiration and affection for the Republican National Party debate. They immediately started the news hour with their right-wing propaganda about the Republican debate that included a variety of right-wing fascists competing for the 2016 presidential campaign. This love fest for Republican fascists on Fox News, Channel 2, lasted for a whole 10 minute stretch, compared to a minute or less of coverage they gave the Democrats for their recent debate. This was not fair and balanced coverage.

This so-called election season seems totally surreal, and has been completely corrupted by the corporate media, big money, and a lack of transparency.

The question people should be asking? What does it really mean to be a Democrat, Republican, Green Party, or Peace and Freedom Party member, Socialist, or Communist?

Why is the system so corrupt that more than $36 million dollars of federal tax dollars will be handed over to the Democrats and the Republicans, for their upcoming conventions? A total of $18 million or more in federal funds will be spent for each of their three day conventions?

What is the Democratic Party? During 2012, the Democratic Party, who’s day to day affairs are controlled by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was given around $18,248,000 in federal funds for their convention, http://tinyurl.com/gmbnolw .

The next Democratic convention will be held in Philadelphia, and will be hosted by a nonprofit organization that was created for the event, which is called the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee, http://tinyurl.com/hlaof8m .

Click below for more, about major party convention funding details through the years…

http://www.fec.gov/press/20111108convtfunding.shtml

On Jan. 17, during the Democrat’s debate, presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders did well to confront candidate Hillary Clinton for accepting political contributions from Wall Street, and hundreds of thousands of dollars from Goldman Sachs, for speaker fees. Is candidate Hillary Clinton little more than a right-wing corporate stooge, posing as a so-called moderate Democrat, who will say anything to get elected?

The political system in the United States is so corrupt, it is not easy to know where to start in trying to make sense of this mess, or how we ever got here.

It appears that Oakland is a good place to start.

Around a year ago, during the inauguration of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, a Democrat, $88,000 in untraceable “dark money” was used to celebrate her status as the new Mayor. The money was raised by a shadowy nonprofit organization called “Made In Oakland”, as was reported by the East Bay Express, http://tinyurl.com/nlzhlyc . The new Mayor, Libby Schaaf, who has tossed out the proverbial red carpet to entice carpet baggers, Wall Street developers, local developers, the California Apartment Association, and the California real estate industry, to be a part of the organized economic cleansing going on in this town, that is displacing renters by the thousands.

Click below for campaign contributions made to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf…

http://www.opendisclosure.io/candidate/libby-schaaf

Shedding some more light on politics in Alameda County where Oakland exists, in rare form, Margarita Lacabe, a former Commissioner of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee (ACDCC), http://tinyurl.com/zql5zgd , disclosed during 2014 that the ACDCC was allegedly involved in a corrupt illegal earmarking scheme, to help candidates get into office, and was under investigation. Is this what being a Democrat is all about?

The Contra Costa Times, turned up plenty of documentation revealing that something was amiss with the way the ACDCC was operating, when they discovered that the ACDCC failed to specify the names of the candidates and ballot measures it financed, as is required by California state law, http://tinyurl.com/z6xavvl .

However, it did not take long for the Fair Political Practices Commission to claim that they found insufficient evidence and closed the file on the matter, http://tinyurl.com/hydz8ws .

The Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, is over-shadowed by the California Democratic Party, http://tinyurl.com/j2pdngj .

Coincidently, during 2014, it was also revealed that Republican, Federal Election Commissioner (FEC), Lee Goodman, has acknowledged that he has delayed taking action, or declines to investigate complaints against Republican, and conservative groups, http://tinyurl.com/jdnjpb7 , even though federal law requires that the FEC must act on complaints within 120 days of the complaint being filed.

The system is presently so corrupt, it appears that someone could steal an election, and due to the lack of enforcement in election laws, or transparency, it would be very difficult to prove it. Is this democracy in action?

It appears that before Republican, FEC Commissioner, Lee Goodman, admitted that he was actively blocking investigations into fraud and election corruption, the FEC was at least somewhat on the beat, and followed up on some of the complaints.

During 2012, right-wing California conservative Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, was nailed by the FEC for the misstatement of financial activity, excessive contributions, and other issues, http://tinyurl.com/jp7r3jh .

Public records reveal that Republican, Tea Party conservative of Illinois, Congressman Randy Hultgren, was nailed by the FEC for the misstatement of financial activity, including the misstatement of receipts and disbursements of funds, during 2009 and 2010, http://tinyurl.com/h94pq4x .

During 2010, theArizona Republican Party, got nailed by the FEC for the misstatement of financial activity, and other issues, http://tinyurl.com/zv2sf4j .

Additionally, in 2010, the Republican Party of Orange County, got nailed by the FEC for the misstatement of financial activity, impermissible transfer of funds, and a host of other issues, http://tinyurl.com/htm9k3h .

It was during 2002, that the FEC fined the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for $115,000 for its part in fundraising violations during 1996, according to wikipedia.

Now that there is gridlock in the FEC with three Republican Commissioners blocking any election complaints that the three Democrat Commissioners may want to pursue, there is a lack of action occurring when election fraud occurs, and no longer is there any real transparency in the election process. As a result, elections may be stolen willy, nilly.

As most people are running around proudly displaying their bumper stickers or wearing their political campaign buttons for Bernie Sanders, or Hillary Clinton, or any of the fascists from the right-wing Republican party who want to be the next president, is it possible that most people do not grasp how the system has them set them up for a rude awakening, in the very near future?

The cycle of corruption that ruled the day for Bush v. Gore, has not been resolved. Indeed, matters are much more worse now.

During the recent candidates debate that was held for the Democrats on Jan. 17, it was not made clear to the audience or the viewers watching the event on TV or YouTube, that the day to day affairs of the Democratic Party is actually controlled by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) http://tinyurl.com/zhqreuh , with U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as the chairman of the DNC.

U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton during 2008, http://tinyurl.com/oxd6c68 .

It may be very difficult for Senator Bernie Sanders to get a fair shake from the DNC with the corrupt election campaign process underway.

Regardless of how the presidential election process unfolds that includes the Koch Brothers, http://tinyurl.com/mds4ekl , trying to buy the Presidency and the U.S. Congress, the election process is presently a corrupt mess.

According to the New York Times, the Koch brothers have an enormous budget of $889 million to spend on the 2016 election cycle, http://tinyurl.com/ory2ypm . Additionally, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of “Citizens United,” holding that corporations have personhood, http://tinyurl.com/op5rowt , it is not a surprise that many people are confused, and totally alarmed by what is happening in this country.

Asides from the above view of the political process, there is the additional arcane process of the electoral college to deal with, that may overturn future election results, http://tinyurl.com/4lo3zb .

Meanwhile, President Obama is pushing for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which will result in even less of a democracy in this country if voted into law by Congress and signed by the president, http://tinyurl.com/o3mqovn .

On his way to the presidency, Senator Bernie Sanders is building a peoples revolution to overcome the odds of a corrupt political system controlled by the rich and powerful, https://go.berniesanders.com/page/content/splash .

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

>>>>>>
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Richard Sloat
Tue, Jan 19, 2016 5:25PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$90.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network