According to the Virginia Public Access Project, outside
political groups purchased $37 million worth of advertisement space across 2012
in Virginia’s four biggest TV markets.[1]
By contrast, during the previous election cycle in 2008,
outside groups spent fewer than $3 million on advertisement purchases in
Virginia’s elections.
Ad buys in 2012 range from the U.S. Senate race in Virginia,
to the upcoming presidential election, all the way across to congressional
contests.
Not surprisingly, conservative money favoring Republican
candidates have dominated the advertisement buyouts by external groups, making
up close to 75 percent of the outside group spending in Virginia.[2]
Thus, if conservative money accounts for 75 percent of the
$37 million spent on ad buys in Virginia throughout 2012, that accounts for
nearly $28 million!
Regardless of what has influenced this infusion of outside
money into Virginia politics, the potential for this money to sway Virginia’s
political system is quite real and quite frightening.
Not only has outside money been poured into Virginia’s 2012
political cycle, the contributors of this money are not always known, shrouded
as they are in the secrecy of our current campaign finance laws.[3]
For anyone interested in the integrity of our democratic
form of government, the latest numbers on outside money should be a wakeup
call. With such a disparity in the views and values that are presented across
our TV screens and radio advertisements, it’s difficult to argue that a
multitude of “voices” are being heard by the general public.
Instead, what Virginians are getting are the viewpoints of
very wealthy individuals dumping money into political super PACs, think tanks,
fringe political groups, pseudo intellectuals, and others who espouse the views
and values of the wealthy to whom they are being bankrolled.
In this context, there has been little room for the values
and views of the “common man (or woman),” views which recognize the need for
government assistance while also putting hard work and resilience atop all
other principles.
The do-it-alone conservatives are all about “me.” Most
Virginians should be concerned with “us,” or community. This is the true engine
that has powered America’s greatness since its creation.
[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/sep/06/tdmain01-outside-groups-spend-37-million-on-tv-ads-ar-2181878/
[2] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/sep/06/tdmain01-outside-groups-spend-37-million-on-tv-ads-ar-2181878/
[3] http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-07-05/Disclose-Act-campaign-finance/56047650/1
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