Secrecy, mudslinging and billionaires: A Supreme Court-crafted campaign

In throwing open the floodgates to uncontrolled campaign spending with their infamous Citizens United ruling, conservative activists on the U.S. Supreme Court put it all together: Shrouds of secrecy, torrents of televised mud-slinging, and a relentless march of billionaires and multi-millionaires.

"The appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy," U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the 5-4 court majority.

Bullpucky from a former beer industry lobbyist!

Kennedy and the brethren took it upon themselves to overturn precedent dating back to the 1907 Tillman Act, a Theodore Roosevelt-driven law designed to stem corporate corruption of American politics.

Just look at what Citizens United did in the 2010 election, and what we are beholding in the 2012 presidential race. Some examples:

--Anonymous Donors: What the Washington Post calls a "vast cloak of secrecy" has come over the process of choosing a President. About 40 percent of the advertising -- so far -- has been paid by "nonprofit" groups that do not need to disclose donors.

"Tell President Obama we need jobs, not more insider deals," says the tag line on a Crossroads GPS TV spot, part of a $10 million mud-slinging campaign already directed at Obama. Crossroads GPS spent more than $5.5 million here in 2010 trying to unseat Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Who is Crossroads GPS? We know Bush guru Karl Rove and ex-GOP chairman Ed Gillespie helped form the group. It has raised $32.6 million so far in the 2012 cycle, not a penny of it disclosed. Crossroads GPS is, for legal purposes, a "social welfare" organization: It defends the welfare of the rich and powerful.

--Billionaires and millionaires: Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson (and Mrs. Adelson) have kept Newt Gingrich's campaign in business with $10 million in contributions to the Gingrich "SuperPAC" called Winning Our Future.

Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy. Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy.

The Romney "SuperPAC", Restore Our Future, is a $30 million engine for corporate power. About 28 percent of its money has come from corporations, an example being $1 million received from an Idaho company called Melaleuca that makes vitamins. A total of $750,000 has come from Romney's former colleagues at Bain Capital, $385,000 from brass at Goldman Sachs.

The "SuperPAC" Americans for Prosperity -- creation of the Koch brothers, billionaires and bigtime polluters -- has taken in an estimated $50 billion, $7 million already spent on anti-Obama ads. Dallas-based billionaire Harold Simmons has already channeled $7 million to the group.

--SuperPAC power: Candidates' campaigns sponsored 98 percent of campaign ads run four years ago as Republican and Democratic presidential contenders fought it out in the South Carolina primary. The figure this year was just 56 percent.

The candidates can feign innocence while SuperPACs do their dirty work. A sanctimonious Mitt Romney said he would "go to jail" if he interfered with Restore Our Future. The PAC is, however, run by a bevy of former Romney aides.

--The Cash Race: The pre-World War I contest between Britain and Germany to build the biggest battleships holds nothing to the frantic cash race now going on in the 2012 presidential campaign.

Normal people get trampled by arms races. Huge cash infusions from the Adelsons, Kochs, Simmons, and Goldman Sachs are canceling out one positive development in our recent political history. The few wealthy donors are overwhelming small on-line donations from ordinary citizens.

The Obama administration has watched with apprehension, even though the President has raised $140 million toward his reelection and had $81.1 million hand at the start of the year. Still, Priorities USA Action -- the pro-Obama SuperPAC -- has lagged at only $4.4 million.

All the President's men (and women) let it out Tuesday that they are going all out in the SuperPAC battle.

As well they might . . . The Koch brothers, and their coterie of rich right-wingers, assembled in Palm Springs recently and reportedly set a goal of raising $100 million to beat Obama. Sheldon Adelson has sent signals he will come in big for Romney when and if Gingrich folds the tents.

--The Cocoon: The cash race dominates the attention of incumbents and challengers. Obama is coming here on Feb. 17, mainly for a $35,800 a couple brunch in Medina -- his second such foray into the wealthy Eastside enclave -- and a $1,000 a head event at the Bellevue Westin. Romney is due in March 1 for a posh money event at the Bellevue Club.

Sure, a "public" event will be tacked on, but strictly for show. Gone are the times when a President, or candidate, could actually travel the land and learn something . . . John F. Kennedy encountering the poverty of West Virginia, Franklin Roosevelt enchanted by the Olympic rain forest.

The Supremes, at least the majority, seem unconcerned at what they have done.

Ethically challenged U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have hobnobbed with the Koch crowd at its annual retreats. Thomas' wife launched her own conservative group with two big anonymous donations.

"Nino" Scalia, in South Carolina not long ago, was asked about the nasty TV spots filling screens in the Palmetto State. Just turn off your television, he counseled.

It's not that easy. Increasing numbers of Americans, looking at their country's political system, are drawing a logical conclusion: The fix is in.

Or as Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, he of the vanishing species of moderate Republican, wrote in his Citizens United dissent: "A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold."