“You have to join the side you’re on.”
Midge Decter
Monday, June 11, 2012
Citizens United v Wisconsin Recall
Well, the impact of Citizens United in the opinion of Stanford Law Professor Michael McConnell, as reported by Blogger (and Law Professor) Ann Althouse. The conclusion is that the benefit went to the unions.
Hi Cliff, You're topic caught my eye but to say the unions were the big spenders in the Wisconsin recall election is to ignore the facts. Here is a link to the Salt Lake City Tribune editorial on the election, fundraising and the interesting law that Walker and the Republicans put in place to hinder fundraising by his opponent. Then let me know what you think http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/54263691-82/walker-campaign-wisconsin-million.html.csp
I agree that the recall advocates got outspent, but they did benefit from Citizens United. Even if they didn't raise as much as they wished to.
I do have my doubts that money, after a certain point, added much to this election. Since Feb 2011 the folks of Wisconsin have been face to face with this issue. I think folks understood the score well before the last weeks of the election. I am thinking the marginal return per dollar spent was approach close to zero by mid-May. I sent no money to this mess.
While I did not follow this recall closely enough to make absolute statements about it, I can point out that based on the SLT Editorial Walker outspent Barrett 7 to 1, outfundraised him by in the neighborhood of 23 million dollars and Barrett's "outside union buddies" accounted for 116-thousand dollars vs just ONE Walker Superpac that spent nearly 4-million dollars not including other pacs. To even suggest as you did by intially quoting a blog suggesting that unions were the winners in this is absurd.
There is one other point I did find interesting. The margin of victory by Walker over Barrett was nearly identical to his margin of victory in the original election.
I think what that means is that even progressives are looking at the bennies that public employee unions get, comparing them to the bennies that they get in the private sector, and saying enough. I don't think there is much beyond that basic fact.
Hi Cliff,
ReplyDeleteYou're topic caught my eye but to say the unions were the big spenders in the Wisconsin recall election is to ignore the facts. Here is a link to the Salt Lake City Tribune editorial on the election, fundraising and the interesting law that Walker and the Republicans put in place to hinder fundraising by his opponent. Then let me know what you think
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/54263691-82/walker-campaign-wisconsin-million.html.csp
Eleanor
ReplyDeleteI agree that the recall advocates got outspent, but they did benefit from Citizens United. Even if they didn't raise as much as they wished to.
I do have my doubts that money, after a certain point, added much to this election. Since Feb 2011 the folks of Wisconsin have been face to face with this issue. I think folks understood the score well before the last weeks of the election. I am thinking the marginal return per dollar spent was approach close to zero by mid-May. I sent no money to this mess.
Regards — Cliff
Eleanor Rigby gave us this link to the Salt Lake City Tribune editorial.
ReplyDeleteRegards — Cliff
While I did not follow this recall closely enough to make absolute statements about it, I can point out that based on the SLT Editorial Walker outspent Barrett 7 to 1, outfundraised him by in the neighborhood of 23 million dollars and Barrett's "outside union buddies" accounted for 116-thousand dollars vs just ONE Walker Superpac that spent nearly 4-million dollars not including other pacs. To even suggest as you did by intially quoting a blog suggesting that unions were the winners in this is absurd.
ReplyDeleteThere is one other point I did find interesting. The margin of victory by Walker over Barrett was nearly identical to his margin of victory in the original election.
I think what that means is that even progressives are looking at the bennies that public employee unions get, comparing them to the bennies that they get in the private sector, and saying enough. I don't think there is much beyond that basic fact.