Harold Meyerson | LA Times | http://lat.ms/1S0j7Bk
Jun 10, 2016
:: What should California’s
Bernie Brigades do now? How should they proceed with the revolution once the
Democratic convention formally bestows its nomination on Hillary Clinton?
If Sanders backers (or, for that matter, Clinton
supporters) want to involve themselves in politics, there are a number of
elections right here in California in which a keystone issue of the socialist’s
campaign – breaking the hold that big money has on our system – is effectively
on the ballot.
For even as Sanders was thundering against the corrosive
role of money in politics and Clinton was condemning the plutocratic
consequences of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, corporate money
was carving an ever larger role for itself in California politics – California
Democratic politics.
Over the past two years, oil companies and “education
reform” billionaires have been funding campaigns for obliging Democratic
candidates running against their more progressive co-partisans under the
state’s “top-two” election process. In this week’s primary, independent
committees spent at least $24 million, with most of that money flowing to
Democrats who opposed Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to halve motorists’ use of
fossil fuels by 2030, and a substantial sum going to Democrats who support
expanding charter schools.
Six years ago, according to the Associated Press, just
one legislative primary race had more than $1 million in outside spending, and
four had more than $500,000. This year, eight races saw more than $1 million in
such spending, and 15 more than $500,000.
In a heavily Democratic district outside Sacramento, a
November state Senate runoff will pit Democratic Assemblyman Bill Dodd, who
opposed Brown’s legislation, against former Democratic Assemblywoman Mariko
Yamada. Dodd has already benefited from one independent campaign funded by
Chevron and other energy companies to the tune of more than $270,000, and from
an education reform campaign funded by charter school proponents such as
billionaire Eli Broad in the amount of $1.68 million.
The combination of [a] top-two election system with
free-flowing outside spending has given rise to a new birth of corporate power
in Sacramento.
In a nearby overwhelmingly Democratic assembly district,
two Democratic candidates with strong environmental credentials lost out in
this week’s primary to a Republican and a Democrat who benefited from more than
$1.2 million from charter school advocates and an additional $650,000 from
Chevron, Tesoro, Valero and other oil companies.
A similar dynamic has shaped a San Bernardino Assembly
contest in which Democratic incumbent Cheryl Brown has been bolstered by major
oil company expenditures in her race against Democrat Eloise Reyes.
These contests reflect the new reality of California
politics. Businesses that previously would have backed Republicans – oil
companies and real estate investors in particular – have responded to the GOP’s
electoral eclipse by shifting their contributions to malleable, more
conservative Democrats. These Democrats would not prevail in a closed primary
system, but have a better chance than Republicans in a general election because
they’re not associated with that toxic – to Californians – brand. (They appeal
to some Democratic voters and to some Republican ones, who have no better
choice.) In this sense, the top-two system helps corporate interests like
Chevron.
In some races, unions and such wealthy environmentalists
as Tom Steyer have answered the flood of corporate money with a torrent of
their own, but the balance remains heavily weighted toward business.
The combination of this top-two election system with
free-flowing outside spending has given rise to a new birth of corporate power
in Sacramento, in the form of the self-proclaimed Moderate Caucus of Democrats.
Aligning themselves with their Republican colleagues, caucus members have blocked
a range of environmental and pro-worker reforms. Late last year, Assemblyman
Henry Perea of Fresno, who’d headed the caucus since 2012, resigned to take a
government relations job with Chevron.
So what’s a California Bernie bro – or for that matter, a
Hillary sis – to do? Joining together (because the environmental and liberal
groups that backed Clinton oppose the Moderate Caucus’ handiwork as much as the
Sanderistas do), they should support the progressive legislative candidates
whom the oil companies and charter school advocates seek to defeat. They should
work to repeal the top-two primary, through which organized money has increased
its clout in Sacramento. And they should work to elect a presidential candidate
– her name is Clinton – who will appoint justices who will overturn Citizens
United.
You say you want a revolution? This would be a good place
to start.
Harold Meyerson is executive editor of the American
Prospect. He is a contributing writer to Opinion.
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