Dark Money, Big Problems

How Citizens United hurts American democracy

Citizens United…dark money…corporate special interests.

If you’ve been following Claire’s re-election campaign this year, you’ve probably heard some of these phrases floating around. If you’ve ever wondered what these phrases mean for you, look no further — we’re here to break it down for you.

What is Citizens United?

In 2010 the Supreme Court made one of its WORST decisions in recent history. The case was Citizens United v. FEC and the ruling states that corporations can spend as much money as they want to influence the outcome of an election. The only caveat? The money can’t be contributed directly to campaigns, but can be funneled through an outside group. And what’s even worse, these outside groups don’t have to disclose how much they’ve spent or what they’ve spent it on — or who’s funding them. So when you see an ad that says “Paid for by Apple Pie,” you don’t know who “Apple Pie” really is. That’s what we’re talking about when we say “dark money.”

This system of campaign finance threatens American democracy because it leaves elected officials beholden to … well, we don’t know who exactly. Most of the time, the money comes from corporate special interests that only care about passing legislation to benefit their businesses and not hard-working Missourians like you. These special interest groups spend millions of dollars to elect candidates who’ll protect their interests at the expense of yours. Do you really want millionaires and billionaires buying control of our elections? Don’t worry — neither does Claire.

Claire Takes on Dark Money

As Claire has said to Missourians again and again — if you don’t know who’s paying for an ad you see on TV, ignore it. She doesn’t care if it’s for her or against her, she believes all Missourians deserve to know exactly who is trying to influence our elections. That’s why Claire is committed to getting rid of dark money in politics and is the one person in this race who supports amending the Constitution to overturn Citizens United.

We’re not the only ones who are proud of Claire’s stance on campaign finance reform. She’s already been endorsed by End Citizens United, a grassroots organization fighting to restore transparency and accountability in our elections.

Of course, not everyone is thrilled with Claire’s position. Big dark money donors like the Koch brothers and Richard Uihlein (who bankrolled a group supporting Roy Moore’s campaign, even after he was accused of sexually assaulting underage women) are spending millions to make sure she loses in November.

Claire’s likely opponent, Josh Hawley, is the poster boy for dark money. He was endorsed by Citizens United — the same group that pushed the disastrous decision of the same name through the Supreme Court; the Koch brothers are spending millions to support his candidacy; and a single donor gave him 75% of his individual contributions for Attorney General (a donor who Hawley then refused to investigate when reports surfaced of a pay-to-play scheme). Missourians can’t trust Hawley to fight for their priorities when he’s been bought and paid for by the mega-rich to advance an agenda that will only help them.

The Koch brothers and other big dark money groups are coming after Claire, and that’s why we need you to do everything in your power to help our campaign. Claire is Missouri’s strongest champion for stopping the flood of dark money pouring into our elections. She’s already fighting with everything she’s got to restore transparency and accountability to our federal government, but she needs your voice to help convince her colleagues in Congress to take action. Sign your name to help Claire show Congress that it’s time to overturn Citizens United and take back control of our elections from dark money billionaires.