This article by Zaid Jilani appeared in The Intercept, April 27th, 2018.

Brief commentary by Community Rights US co-founder and director Paul Cienfuegos: If our nation finally succeeded in banning all corporate donations to candidates for public office, it turns out that would not have as dramatic an impact as some might assume, given that the majority of donations to most candidates comes from wealthy individuals, many of them associated with large corporations. In addition, current campaign finance laws allow corporations to run their money through Democratic Party campaign committees, and that doesn’t officially count when candidates claim they’ve sworn off corporate money.

So when a candidate claims they don’t take money from corporate PAC’s, let’s be clear that that is just the beginning of the changes that we so desperately need to democratize our elections.

EN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-Calif., became the latest lawmaker to swear off all donations from corporate political action committees, telling a radio host in mid-April that she made the move after being asked about it at a town hall by a constituent.

Harris joins five other senators who have vowed not to take corporate PAC contributions: Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

With the exception of Cantwell, these senators are regularly floated 2020 presidential contenders, giving them political incentive to declare themselves independent of corporate money. Many Americans have grown increasingly distrustful of big business’s influence in politics since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In fact, Harris cited that case when explaining her decision not to accept cash from corporate PACs on the Breakfast Club, a New York radio show.

“I think that money has had such an outside influence on politics, and especially with the Supreme Court determining Citizens United, which basically means that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money influencing our campaigns, right? We’re all supposed to have an equal vote, but money has now really tipped the balance between an individual having equal power in an election to a corporation,” Harris said. “So I’ve actually made a decision, since I had that conversation, that I’m not going to accept corporate PAC checks. I just, I’m not.” MORE…