Other Views: Campaign cash and the Kochs

repost of the Las Vegas Review Journal Opinion piece in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal

Campaign cash and the Kochs

No political contributors are as widely vilified as the Koch brothers.

Their immense wealth and interest in conservative and libertarian causes has made them a popular target among left-leaning pundits and political figures. The folks at Brave New Films — the production company responsible for the documentary “Koch Brothers Exposed” — say the billionaires “have been handed the ability to buy our democracy in the form of giant checks to the House, Senate, and soon, possibly even the presidency.”

Campaign cash and the Kochs

No political contributors are as widely vilified as the Koch brothers.

Their immense wealth and interest in conservative and libertarian causes has made them a popular target among left-leaning pundits and political figures. The folks at Brave New Films — the production company responsible for the documentary “Koch Brothers Exposed” — say the billionaires “have been handed the ability to buy our democracy in the form of giant checks to the House, Senate, and soon, possibly even the presidency.”

And we’ve lost count of how many times Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has publicly attacked them.

In fact, Sen. Reid is so fed up with the activities of the Kochs and their ilk that he wants to rewrite the First Amendment. He has scheduled a Sept. 8 procedural vote on a constitutional amendment that would nullify prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings by allowing Congress to limit total direct contributions to multiple candidates, as well as the amount of money that nonprofits, super PACs, unions and corporations can spend on political speech.

But the Senate vote is doomed to failure, and all the grandstanding by Sen. Reid and others is complete and utter nonsense. The fact of the matter is Democrats love big money if it’s being spent on them. And is it ever.

— Las Vegas Review-Journal