This week’s PBS Frontline is a must-see. It exposes superPACs, “nonprofits” and the dirty work they do in campaigns today….Kai Rysdal of NPR’s Marketplace does a pretty good job of covering the skulduggery of Dem and GOP political operatives, which has worsened since Citizens United. The Dem dark side is SuperPAC American Bridge, which feeds secret “nonprofits”–which raise unlimited funds from unnamed donors to pay for nasty TV spots that hammer Republican candidates–and can only be traced to a postal box at a UPS store in D.C. The show goes deep on the Tester-Rehburg Senate race in Montana, and exposes Western Tradition Partners (now American Tradition Partners), which brought the lawsuit that overturned Montana’s 100-year ban on corporate money in campaigns. The most bizarre part of the story: boxes of documents found in a meth house in Colorado show that ATP is clearly violating the law by choosing and directly supporting candidates who support their agenda. And when Ryssdal tracked down the headquarters of ATP–he went to a postal box at a different UPS store in DC.
The Supreme Court, without hearing any arguments or evidence, upheld ATP’s suit in June. We covered this extensively in a series of podcasts here, with attorney Carl Mayer and activist Adam Furgatch. Next week, we plan to update the story here with Mayer and Furgatch.
Watch the Frontline episode here.
Also:
–on the same day, Russia and Iran announce plans to treat free speech as treason
–Iran offers aid to American communities hit by Sandy
–report that meth production and dealing are booming in Iran
–Romney’s Ohio rally for disaster relief for Snady victims was staged photo op
—The Nation challenged Romney and Obama to respond to 5 questions about poverty. Bishop Mitt said “no thanks”, ObamaCo responded with some talking points
–NY Mayor Bloomberg endorses Obama, relates it to Sandy and climate change
–Thomas Frank publishes think piece about Occupy Wall Street–read it here
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