Will corporations outlive democracies?
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On today’s show, guest host Bert Zipperer speaks with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy about her new book, Corporatocracy: How to Protect Democracy from Dark Money and Corrupt Politicians, out now from NYU Press. Professor Torres-Spelliscy says that “corporations have existed far longer than democracies” and that more people should be concerned about the US’s privately funded campaign finance system.
She says “dark money” means money that is spent in American elections that the public can’t tell the source of. Money becomes dark money when corporations (or billionaires) legally launder money through opaque non-profits (typically 501(c)(4)s or 501(c)(6)s, like the US Chamber of Commerce) and then spend that money in our political system. Because the public can’t see the true source of the money, this practice becomes a recipe for a lack of accountability.
Zipperer and Torres-Spelliscy talk about how corruption isn’t a partisan problem, the SpeechNow case that created super pacs, how Jho Low got a photo with President Barack Obama in 2012, the role of the Rule of Law Defense Fund in the January 6 insurrection, ghost candidates in Florida, the Uline corporation in Wisconsin, and the reforms that could be put in place through corporate law (like the UK Companies Act) or election law.
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is Professor of Law at Stetson University and a Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. She is the author of Corporate Citizen?: An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State and Political Brands. Torres-Spelliscy also serves on the board of directors of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
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