“Clinton is expected to have little trouble raising money, especially if she has the Democratic field effectively to herself. She seems not to have the same queasiness of about adopting the new techniques of financing campaigns that President Obama displayed in 2012, but she also called last week for a constitutional amendment to create limits or mandate transparency for campaign cash. Her call is unlikely to actually deliver ratification of an amendment, but it is a powerful signaling mechanism, especially to progressives who worry she’s too moderate.
At the same time, a forthcoming book by Peter Schweizer has excited the political world with allegations of quid pro quos, in which foreign governments gave to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton, then serving as secretary of state, did them favors—essentially alleging bribery in foreign affairs. The Clinton campaign said there’s nothing to the allegations.
Democratic and Republican super PACs are already lining up to attack the book or to use it to attack Clinton, respectively. The implication of Schweizer’s argument is awkward for the groups poised to pour millions into publicizing its allegations, though. Shadowy organizations funded by multimillionaires, many of which scrupulously cover up their sources of donations, are going to pour huge amounts of money into trying to sway the democratic process—all in an attempt to prove that huge, insufficiently transparent infusions of cash from wealthy donors can corrupt a public servant’s policy decisions. Is this irony lost on the donors and the candidates they back, or does it simply not bother them?”
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