Are Democrats Done Fighting Big Money in Politics?
With early voting beginning in New York City this weekend, the mayoral candidates have taken to the airwaves to make their closing arguments. Local TV is flush with predictable campaign ads: testimonials from spouses; conversations with small children on city buses; passionate rally speeches about crime; and the inevitable shots of candidates walking gritty streets and scenic blocks of brownstones. But there are also commercials that might seem a little odd if TV viewers squint to read the fine print on the screen or strain to hear the fast-talking disclaimer at the end. An ad for former presidential candidate Andrew Yang ends with the tagline, When New York gets knocked down, we get back up. We will come back stronger than ever. This Yang spot was not paid for by his campaign but by a murky entity called Comeback PAC. On the Monday afternoon local news, the Yang ad followed a commercial boosting former Citibank executive Ray McGuire that was paid for by a group called New York for Ray.  These are both super PAC adsthe kind of unlimited, nominally independent, political expenditures that Citizens United paved the way for, allowing the wealthy to pour unlimited funds into American politics. All of the seven top Democratic candidates for mayor now have a super PAC working on their behalf. (For the record, Diane Morales, whose left-wing campaign is badly sputtering, does not have a super PAC.) Through mid-May, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, super PACs were responsible for roughly a third of all the money spent on the mayoral race. This trend has not received the public attention it deserves, but it serves as a symbol of growing Democratic hypocrisy about big money in politics.