Corporatocracy Author Ciara Torres-Spelliscy on The Corroding Impact of Money on Politics — And How to Fix It

Nell Minow
11 min readJul 4, 2024
Cover of Corporatocracy

In Corporatocracy (forthcoming November 5, 2024), law professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy documents the close ties between corporations (corporate executives) and the most disturbing and undemocratic decisions and policies from government officials. She even describes the connection between corporate political spending and the insurrection that attempted to derail the certification of the election of Joe Biden on January 6, 2021.

Decisions like Citizens United have made it near-impossible to limit or even track corporate spending on political campaigns and lobbying. The book is meticulously researched and the footnotes are as fascinating as the text. It is horrifying to read but it is also hopeful. The subtitle of the book is “How to Protect Democracy from Dark Money and Corrupt Politicians.” She ends with some positive steps to give voters back the information and the power they need to put the interests of citizens ahead of the interests of billionaires and corporations. In an interview, Professor Torres-Spelliscy discussed the “never-ending shell game” of dark money organizations that hide how and how much corporate money for politicians so investors, consumers, and voters do not see how it affects the priorities and decisions of our elected officials, the…

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Nell Minow

Movie critic, corporate critic and shareholder advocate, Contributing Editor at @ebertvoices plus @moviemom, and #corpgov #movies and editor at @miniverpress