Money in politics: Our view

Democrats want you to know that they are really, really against big money in politics.

The party platform, adopted this week at the Philadelphia convention, calls for “a government that represents the American people, not just a handful of powerful and wealthy special interests.” It demands an end to super PACs. And it calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which opened the door to unlimited corporate and union contributions.

“This election is about overturning Citizens United, (which) allows the wealthiest people in America, like the billionaire Koch brothers, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying elections and, in the process, undermine American democracy,” Bernie Sanders declared in his speech Monday night.

Perhaps sometime in a faraway world, the blessed day will arrive when Citizens United is reversed. For the time being, however, there’s a big difference between what the Democrats are saying and what they are doing. The leaked Democratic National Committee emails, in addition to showing DNC favoritism toward Hillary Clinton in her race against Sanders, provide an unseemly inside look at the care and feeding of major donors.

One of the emails refers to a “$200,000 Tribe Package” that comes with five premier hotel rooms for the convention, credentials and tickets for various events, and “five reserved places for an exclusive roundtable and campaign briefing with high-level Democratic officials.”

Money, influence are here to stay: Opposing view

The DNC’s selling of access extends all the way to the White House. The emails reflect much back and forth about which Democratic fat cat deserved to sit next to President Obama at a roundtable discussion in May with 28 major party financiers at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington.

The Republicans are only slightly less hypocritical about all this. The party’s presidential nominee, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, routinely criticizes big donors and lobbyists. He vows to upend Washington’s rigged system and portrays himself as too rich to be bought. But, after Trump largely self-funded his primary bid, his campaign is actively fundraising and has endorsed a super PAC committed to helping him win the White House this fall.

Despite all the bipartisan talk about rigged systems, both Cleveland and Philadelphia have been awash in corporate cash and special interest money. The conventions outside the convention halls — the parts you don’t see on TV — feature the usual whirl of partying, networking, lobbying, fundraising, marketing, influence-buying and influence-peddling. Some of these events occur simultaneously with the prime-time convention schedule.

Big money is a threat to democracy, even more so at the congressional level than the presidential one. In Congress, issues ranging from tax policy to climate change get tilted toward moneyed interests. Congressional candidates spend obscene amounts of time dialing for dollars like telemarketers, instead of doing the jobs they are elected to do.

Potential reforms range from prompt disclosure of “dark money” contributions all the way to public financing of elections. Even the Democrats’ boldest proposals wouldn’t touch the millions of dollars in questionable and often tax-deductible corporate contributions to the Clintons’ family charity, which raise many of the same questions.

Until the campaign-financing system changes, you can’t expect the Democrats to unilaterally disarm. But as long as they are slurping at the trough, they shouldn’t be so sanctimonious about it.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

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