TABOR's Attack on Democracy
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defeated!
The TABOR amendment is strategically designed to allow big money
to circumvent campaign finance laws and exert greater influence on politics
at the expense of everyday citizens under the veil of direct democracy.
What the far Right has learned over the years is that campaign
finance laws work. Although far from perfect, they have helped level the playing
field in politics by both requiring public disclosure of campaign contribution
and limiting the amount anyone can give to a candidate for public office. Similar
public disclosure and limitations apply to lobbyists.
But there’s a loophole – Campaign finance laws don’t apply
to public referendums or ballot measures.
So under the guise of giving the public a vote on tax increases,
TABOR changes the rules of the game to benefit those with the deepest pockets.
As it is now in the legislative arena:
- Big money is limited in the amount they can give to any candidate for public
office.
- All campaign contributions must be publicly disclosed so we all know who
is funding who.
- Lobbyists must also disclose any business dealings with legislators and
abide by campaign finance regulations.
- Citizens who don't have money can exert influence over their legislators by writing letters, sending emails, making phone calls, and meeting face-to-face with their elected officials.
As it would be under TABOR and public referendums:
- Campaign finance laws do not apply.
- No limits on the amount anyone can spend to influence a ballot measure.
- Little or no public disclosure of who is funding the initiatives to defeat
or support the ballot measure.
- Citizens who don't have money have little influence over ballot measures whose outcome is controlled largely by who has the largest advertising budget.
Unlike the legislative arena, in public ballot measures powerful
interests and big money can literally spend millions of dollars to overwhelm
any legitimate citizen group or concern. This is unlikely to change anytime
soon as repeated efforts by states to limit the influence of big money in public
referendums have been struck down by the US Supreme Court. However, prior to
being struck down:
"these state regulations had relatively minor success
in mitigating the role of special interests," according to a report by Dr. Daniel A. Smith of the University of Colorado. Smith continues, "It
is highly unlikely, therefore, that any current legislative attempts to rein
in the influence of special interests -- even if they could pass constitutional
muster -- would have much success either... One way or another, special
interest money will find its way into the process of direct democracy."
"Take, for example, the current involvement in ballot
campaigns by some non-profit, 501 (c) (3) organizations and some educational
committees. These organizations, which do not have to list their donors,
are legally eligible to participate in ballot measure campaigns. It
is possible, then, for special interests to make unregulated and anonymous
contributions to initiative and referendum campaigns by funneling their money
through these non-profit or educational organizations serving as conduits."
"A case in point is the role of Grover Norquist's non-profit
and non-partisan organization, Americans for Tax Reform. ATR was behind
several statewide ballot campaigns in the late 1990s... As it turns
out, Norquist did funnel a substantial amount of this money to issue groups
in California, Colorado, and Oregon to promote conservative initiatives, including
anti-tax, right to work, and 'paycheck protection' ballot measures... "
This is similar to what happened in Alabama recently. While Alabama does not have a TABOR bill, their tax laws are written into the constitution and thus require a public vote to change them, the same requirement TABOR would put onto Tennessee absent a 2/3rd super-majority of legislators.
Last year in Alabama, the timber industry and others spent vast resources on a slick TV, radio, billboard, and direct mail advertising campaign to distort and defeat a progressive tax reform plan supported by grassroots citizen groups and key church leaders. The citizen groups are still trying to figure out how much they spent and who paid for all the ads, but without the campaign finance protections provided in the legislative arena, chances are they never will.
Get more information on TABOR:
Updated April 2, 2004
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