"The dairy industry sought a deal with President Richard Nixon to write a huge campaign check to his reelection campaign-in exchange for price supports that would artificially raise the cost of milk. But federal law strictly limited the amount it could donate. So Nixon's henchmen devised a workaround: Dairy companies would funnel $2 million through various Republican Party committees, which could then transfer the cash to Nixon's campaign."
"Now, more than half a century later, the Supreme Court is on the brink of striking down that restriction, handing plutocrats even more power to bribe candidates for political favors. The justices will hear arguments on Tuesday in NRSC v. FEC, a case cooked up by the GOP itself to demolish the barrier that Congress constructed to ensure that political parties do not serve as conduits for corruption. This modest safeguard strengthens American democracy without imposing a meaningful burden on anyone's speech."
During Watergate the dairy industry arranged to funnel money to Richard Nixon’s reelection by trading a large campaign check for higher government price supports that would raise milk costs. Federal law limited direct donations, so party committees were used to transfer $2 million to the campaign. Congress later banned such laundering of megadonations to prevent party conduits for corruption. The Supreme Court is poised to hear NRSC v. FEC, a GOP-engineered challenge seeking to overturn that prohibition, risking restoration of a pathway for wealthy donors to influence candidates with minimal regulatory restraint.
Read at Slate Magazine
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