FOX News's $1 million to the GOP, the start of a flood

[and-justice-for-all]

http://www.pfaw.org/

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., the parent company of FOX News, just donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA). The floodgates are starting to open.

News of the $1 million dollar check just made official what we all knew already: FOX News and the rest of Rupert Murdoch's media empire are a big part of the communications arm of the Republican Party and conservative movement. Or the Republican Party is the political arm of FOX News. Either way it's bad news for the country. But the donation also helps shine a light of revelation on what we are up against since the Roberts Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC created a climate so friendly to brazen corporate spending. The ruling was said to have "opened the floodgates" for unlimited corporate spending in elections, and as we can see, that's exactly what it has done.

News Corp.'s $1 million is part of a whopping $19 million take for the RGA this quarter, including a $1.48 million donation from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and $1 million from the head of Koch Industries. That's $19 million for TV ads in the 37 state with governors races that will spread the Far Right's bogus "take our country back" rhetoric.

It is interesting to note that News Corp. is now so bold that it doesn't care who knows that it is trying to influence elections. And with governors' influence in the redistricting process, this is a really a down payment on future state and local elections as well.

Target, a company with a reputation for pro-equality employment practices, has come under fire for a $150,000 donation the retail giant made to support far-right, anti-gay Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer in Minnesota. For all the bad P.R., the only lesson Target seems to have learned is that the next time the company makes a massive donation to elect a right-wing candidate, it will hide behind a third party by contributing the money through the Chamber of Commerce or a "527" organization like the RGA or one of the "Swiftboat-style" organizations recently created by Karl Rove.

The tsunami of corporate cash being poured into this fall's elections is daunting, and while some companies, like Goldman Sachs, have stated that they won't be making political contributions, their ability to hide behind front organizations and evade disclosure of their activities means that we will never know whether or not they actually do. That's why progressives need to unite, reach deep within ourselves, dig in our heels and commit to doing what we need to in order to frustrate the Right's efforts this election. They might outspend us, but they won't out-hustle us.

Please join People For the American Way's work to fight back against the deluge of corporate cash on the Right. This is the only way our side will be able to fight back.

Send a message to your senators urging them to pass the DISCLOSE Act, which will help rein in corporate spending with much-needed regulations, as soon as Congress gets back from recess.

And, please, if you can fight these massive corporate donations with a donation of your own, give now to People For and we will put your contribution to good use making sure the corporatist and extremists on the Right are the ones who are disappointed the day after Election Day.

Thank you for your steadfast support and for standing with us to make sure America lives up to its constitutional values.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Keegan, President
http://www.pfaw.org/

[liberal N proud]

1. This Senator bought by "insert corporation here"

[Kdillard]

2. Not much of a shock but still disgusting..

[sellitman]

3. This is just the tip of the iceberg

I don't know how we will compete. That SCOTUS ruling was the most evil ruling ever.

Of all time.

Really!

[ChipperbackDemocrat]

4. This is a good thing, it really is.

Now that the Corporate media can buy off elected officials in the open, maybe people will stop believing in "Liberal Media Bias". There ain't none!

[JohnnyBoots]

5. That was a dark day. 'By, for and of the People' changed forever.

It's the day we officially became a Corptocracy.

[AlinPA]

6. We will see hundreds of millions going to the republican party in the next 2 months.

That SC ruling is going to really open up the money flow to them. Two million per house seat and 5 million per senate seat is only close to a billion. Businesses can easily do that when they pool their money.

[Marsala]

7. A paltry sum compared to the hundreds of millions of free political advocacy FOX has given them n/t

[LatteLibertine]

8. Vote the

Wall Street lackeys out. The most wealthy may have the cash but we have the raw votes. If the poor and middle class mostly align there is no one we can't vote out of office.