2017 was the year of the Almighty Dollar. And I don’t mean Bitcoin.
I’m talking about the cold, hard cash that is taking over our politics.
At the beginning of 2017, America’s first billionaire president was inaugurated. At the end, Donald J. Trump was celebrating his party’s passage of a tax “reform” bill that will enrich his billionaire and millionaire buddies.
OPINION
Here in Illinois, the 2018 gubernatorial primary contests are dominated by the guys with the cold, hard cash. They are pouring obscene amounts into their races.
At last count, the March 20 primary campaign was leading the nation in campaign fundraising and spending, according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR), a non-partisan good government group.
“Spending in the 2018 gubernatorial race is up over 700 percent, compared to spending at the same point in 2014,” ICPR reported in October.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has plunked down at least $50 million for his campaign. For good measure, the GOP first-termer is getting a lift from his friend Ken Griffin, the richest person in Illinois. In May, Griffin donated $20 million to Rauner, the largest individual contribution to a political campaign in Illinois history.
On Thursday, Griffin dropped another $2.5 million into Rauner’s war chest.
On the Democratic side, Hyatt Hotel heir J.B. Pritzker has raised $42 million, mostly from his own pocket, shows data compiled by ICPR.
Together, Rauner and Pritzker have put a dizzying $100 million into their campaigns.
(Another Democratic contender, Chris Kennedy, a multi-millionaire real estate developer and the wealthy scion of America’s royal political family, is their “poor” cousin, raising a mere $3.2 million so far).
Experts predict the Illinois gubernatorial campaign will be the most expensive in history, likely to surpass the $280 million haul in the 2010 California contest between (now governor) Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO.
It’s an irresistible honey pot for consultants, staffers, pollsters, and myriad other operators who feed at the political trough. The labor unions and top Democrats like Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan are delighted to plow their resources into down-ballot races.
For Pritzker and Rauner, the bucks free them up to spend precious time hitting churches and senior citizen centers on the campaign trail, while their opponents are holed up in window-less offices, miserably dialing for dollars.
Republicans have long been the preferred party of the wealthy.
Democrats, so it goes, are supposed to be the party of working people, the middle class, and even occasionally the poor.
Dozens of progressive Democratic activists and voters tell me that in normal times, Pritzker might not be their first choice. But Rauner must be defeated at all costs, they argue. To beat the other guy’s billionaire, you need to bring your own.
For my money, all the major Democratic gubernatorial contenders are fine gentlemen who can serve us well.
But my money doesn’t matter.
The message of 2017: If you want to get in the game, bring your wallet. Only the fabulously wealthy need apply.
Are Democrats legitimizing a standard that, to be taken seriously, a candidate for high office must pony up millions, even billions?
In the future, will their candidates be judged, chiefly and cynically, for their fundraising prowess and bottom line?
At all costs?
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