October 15, 2010

The White House Gets One Right

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/noahwesley/120499365/">noahwesley</a> (<a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a>).

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Via Mike Allen’s Playbook, I see that someone in the White House is thinking the right way about the whole Chamber of Commerce/foreign money/corporate campaign donations flap:

PLAYBOOK QUIZ: Why did the White House invest so much capital in the “foreign money” issue? a) stoke the Dem. base; b) make donors think twice before writing a check to a GOP-friendly outside group; c) delegitimize GOP victories; or d) “We actually think there is something wrong with millions of dollars of undisclosed special interest money being funneled through shadowy groups to buy elections. Foreign money is a part of the problem, but it’s only part.” Good job! D is correct!  

This is exactly right. It is wrong for individuals and corporations to anonymously buy elections by funnelling millions of dollars through front groups. But as I’ve said before, if the Democrats really want to take on this issue, they need to go after the domestic corporations and the super-rich individuals who are providing the bulk of the money.

It’s easy to anonymously tell Mike Allen that you think something is bad. The hard part is making the case to the American people. But if President Obama really wanted to launch a serious national conversation about money in politics and political corruption (on both sides of the aisle), I think many Americans would welcome it.

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“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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