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Corporatocracy Author Ciara Torres-Spelliscy on The Corroding Impact of Money on Politics — And How to Fix It
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 impact of one man, Leonard Leo, how the ride-share, e-cigarette, and crypto companies have made strategic use of political spending to externalize their costs, and the difficulty corporations face when they are expected to take public positions on political issues.
What is the meaning of your metaphor of corporate political spending as “a toddler with a grenade?”
As I explain in Corporatocracy, corporations are far older than democracies. Long before America was a democracy, corporations such as the Massachusetts Bay Company and Hudson Bay Company were used to settle British colonies in North America. Other companies like the Royal African Company (RAC) and the South Sea Company (SSC) operated British slave trade in the 1600s. Today, corporate spending in democratic elections is potentially disastrous if the corporate spending empowers anti-democratic politicians. Thus there is a risk when corporate political spending teams up with a…
