Original Link: http://www.propublica.org/article/how-dark-money-helped-republicans-hold-the-house-and-hurt-voters
By
Olga Pierce,
Justin Elliott and
Theodoric Meyer
In the November election, a million more Americans
voted
for Democrats seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives
than Republicans. But that popular vote advantage did not result in
control of the chamber. Instead, despite getting fewer votes,
Republicans have maintained a commanding control of the House. Such a
disparity has happened only three times in the last century.
(
Here’s a chart comparing 2010 and 2012.)
Analysts and others have identified redistricting as a key to the disparity. Republicans had a
years-long strategy of winning state houses in order to control each state's once-a-decade redistricting process. (Confused about redistricting? Check out our
song.)
Republican strategist Karl Rove laid out the approach in a Wall Street Journal
column in early 2010 headlined "He who controls redistricting can control Congress."
The approach paid off. In 2010 state races, Republicans picked up 675
legislative seats, gaining complete control of 12 state legislatures.
As a result, the GOP oversaw redrawing of lines for four times as many
congressional districts as Democrats.
How did they dominate redistricting? A ProPublica investigation has
found that the GOP relied on opaque nonprofits funded by dark money,
supposedly nonpartisan campaign outfits, and millions in corporate
donations to achieve Republican-friendly maps throughout the country.
Two tobacco giants, Altria and Reynolds, each
pitched in
more than $1 million to the main Republican redistricting group, as did
Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads; Walmart and the pharmaceutical
industry also contributed. Other donors, who gave to the nonprofits
Republicans created, may
never have to be disclosed.
While many observers have
noted
that mega-donors like Sheldon Adelson backed losing candidates, a close
look at the Republicans' effort on redistricting suggests something
else: The hundreds of millions spent this year on presidential TV ads
may not have hit the mark, but the relatively modest sums funneled to
redistricting paid off handsomely.
Where Democrats were in control, they
drew gerrymandered maps just like Republicans. They also had their own secretive redistricting
funding. (Last year, we
detailed
how Democrats in California worked to undermine the state's attempt at
non-partisan redistricting.) But Democrats got outspent 3-to-1 and did
not prioritize winning state legislatures. They also faced a Republican
surge in 2010.
Exactly how the Republican effort worked has been shrouded in mystery
until now. But depositions and other documents in a little-noticed
lawsuit in North Carolina offer an exceptionally detailed picture of
Republicans' tactics.
Documents show that national Republican operatives, funded by dark
money groups, drew the crucial lines which packed as many Democrats as
possible into three congressional districts. The result: the state's
congressional delegation flipped from 7-6 Democratic to 9-4 in favor of
Republicans. The combination of party operatives, cash and secrecy also
existed in other states, including Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan.
Redistricting is supposed to protect the fundamental principle of
one-person-one-vote. As demographics change, lines are shifted to make
sure everyone is equally represented and to give communities a voice. In
order for Republicans to win in North Carolina, they undermined the
votes of Democrats, especially African-Americans. (Party leaders in
North Carolina say they were simply complying with federal voting laws.)
The strategy began in the run-up to the 2010 elections. Republicans
poured money into local races in North Carolina and elsewhere. It was an
efficient approach. While congressional races routinely cost millions, a
few thousand dollars can swing a campaign for a seat in the state
legislature
The Republican effort to influence redistricting overall was
spearheaded by a group called the Republican State Leadership Committee,
which has existed since 2002. For most of that time, it was primarily a
vehicle for donors like health care and tobacco companies to influence
state legislatures, key battlegrounds for regulations that affect
corporate America. Its focus changed in 2010 when Ed Gillespie, former
counselor to President George W. Bush, was named chairman. His main
project: redistricting.
Soon after Gillespie took over, the RSLC announced an effort to
influence state races throughout the country, the Redistricting Majority
Project, or
REDMAP.
Fundraising soared. The group raised $30 million in 2010, by far its
best year. (Its Democratic counterpart raised roughly $10 million.)
The RSLC is organized as a type of political group that can take in
unlimited corporate donations. It must disclose its contributors. But
that doesn't mean it's always possible to trace the origins of the
money.
Along with Walmart and tobacco companies, the RSLC's largest funders in 2010 were the Chamber of Commerce and
American Justice Partnership,
which gave a combined $6.5 million. Those two groups raise money from
corporations and others but don't have to disclose their donors.
As the 2010 North Carolina legislative elections heated up, the RSLC
jumped into local races. But the way they made contributions kept their
involvement away from the attention of state voters. Rather than running
campaign ads under its own name, the RSLC distributed money to a newly
formed local nonprofit. The RSLC declined to comment.
The RSLC gave $1.25 million to its vehicle of choice
Real Jobs NC. The group
calls itself
a "non-partisan organization that believes we need to return to a
reliance on the free enterprise system that made our country great for
real answers." It was started in 2010 and got a hefty $200,000 boost
from dollar store magnate and Republican supporter Art Pope, although
Pope denies his donation was related to redistricting or REDMAP.
Real Jobs NC produced ads and mailers slamming more than 20 state Democrats.
"Steve Goss … nice guy," intoned the voiceover in
one such ad
in North Carolina, attacking then-Democratic State Senator Goss. "Too
bad he's voting with the Raleigh liberals over hometown conservatives."
Goss lost, and Democrats lost control of North Carolina's General
Assembly for the first time in a century. The pattern repeated itself
across the country.
"Twenty legislative bodies which were previously split or under
Democratic control are now under Republican control," said a triumphant
RSLC REDMAP post-election
analysis, highlighting its spending in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, among other states.
The next step for Republicans was to draw district maps, which can be
expensive. The maps require expertise, extensive data and sophisticated
software. Skillful map drawers can make even the most partisan
gerrymander look reasonable.
To fund the work, the Republican State Leadership Committee used its
previously dormant nonprofit arm, the State Government Leadership
Foundation. Such dark money groups are
increasingly popular
because they are allowed to keep secret the identity of their donors.
Federal tax law permits them to do this as long as they pledge that
politics is not their primary focus.
Flush with anonymous donors' cash, the Foundation
paid $166,000 to
hire the GOP's pre-eminent redistricting experts, according to tax documents. The team leader was
Tom Hofeller, architect of Republican-friendly maps going back decades.
"Our team would be happy to assist in drawing proposed maps,
interpreting data, or providing advice," wrote Chris Jankowski, the head
of both the RSLC and State Government Leadership Foundation, in a
of introduction to North Carolina legislators. The letter was disclosed as part of the North Carolina lawsuit.
"We are engaged in a number of states and believe we are playing a
meaningful role in helping draw fair and legal lines that will allow us
to run competitive elections in 2012 and in future cycles," Jankowski
added.
The same letter emphasized that the Republican redistricting push was
being funded through its dark money nonprofit: "The entirety of this
effort will be paid for using non-federal dollars through our 501c(4)
organization."
Jankowski, representing both the RSLC and the Foundation, declined to comment.
Because Hofeller's team was paid with dark money and the
redistricting process is so secretive, it is hard to know the full
extent of its activities. In Wisconsin, the team provided
technical assistance to an aide to Rep. Paul Ryan as he drew new districts that
favored Republicans. In Missouri, Hofeller was the
sole witness called by attorneys representing the Republican legislators who drew the maps there.
In the case of North Carolina, Hofeller made his
first trip to Raleigh on Feb. 1, 2011, even
before final state Census data had been released, the first of 10 trips that year.
From then on, two parallel redistricting processes unfolded in the state.
Through the spring and summer, legislators in charge of redistricting
traveled the state holding public meetings at local colleges,
soliciting comment and proposed maps from citizens — though the
Republicans on the committee would not produce draft maps themselves.
"We are not here to answer questions. We are not here drawing maps," state Senate redistricting committee chairman Bob Rucho
told the crowd at a hearing in Durham. "What we are here for is to basically hear your thoughts and dreams about redistricting."
But that input had little influence on the districts that were eventually drawn.
Instead, the real maps were being produced behind the scenes by a team that based its operations at Republican Party
headquarters on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Armed with advanced
mapping software, Hofeller and others crafted districts that would virtually guarantee big gains for the party.
Hofeller did not attend or read transcripts of any of the public
meetings, according to his deposition. Hofeller did not respond to
requests for comment.
A mysterious state dark money nonprofit that
sprung up just in time for the process, called Fair and Legal Redistricting for North Carolina,
hired a technician to operate the mapping workstation day-to-day, and
another Republican mapping expert. The group did not respond to our requests for comment.
State-based nonprofits have been a vehicle for Republicans to funnel
anonymous money into their map-drawing operations in a number of states,
including self-proclaimed nonpartisan groups in
Michigan and
Minnesota.
Republican state legislators tasked with redistricting frequently
visited and consulted with the mapping team, according to depositions.
Even Art Pope, the
most influential conservative donor in the state, was appointed "
co-counsel" to the legislative leadership and allowed in the room to give direct instructions to the technician.
"We worked together at the workstation,"
said Joel Raupe, the technical expert paid by Fair and Legal Redistricting, in a deposition. "He sat next to me."
Pope, who is a lawyer but does not actively practice, was made co-counsel to the state legislature, offering his services
pro bono.
Now, because he was technically a legal adviser to the state, he says
any information about his involvement in the redistricting is
privileged.
(The New Yorker had a
sweeping profile of Pope last year, detailing how he has used his fortune to dominate North Carolina politics.)
North Carolina's Republican incumbents in Congress pushed for a so-called "
10-3 map," the majority they hoped to win in the state's delegation.
Hofeller, the mapping expert, delivered. His maps kept most of the
districts from being competitive — or even remotely winnable — for
Democratic candidates.
A key part of the redistricting strategy was to push minority voters into three districts. Republicans
insisted their maps were "fair and legal," necessary to conform to
laws protecting minority voting rights, although according to a well-known voting rights attorney, the opposite is true.
But federal voting rights law "doesn't require a jurisdiction to pack
blacks in districts," said Laughlin McDonald, director of the American
Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project. "If you tried to pack
minority voters into a district, that would arguably be a violation."
In two of those districts, African-American incumbents been already
been winning by large margins for years. Republicans' maps added yet
more African-Americans to the districts, what's known in redistricting
parlance as "
packing."
As Hofeller wrote in an email about one of the districts, the plan was
to "incorporate all the significant concentrations of minority voters in
the northeast into the first district."
A third district was 120-mile long, and sea monkey-shaped, connecting
pockets of African-Americans from three different, distant cities.
Republicans justified it on the basis of a common media market.
The maps were designed to "segregate African-American voters in three
districts and concede those districts to the Democrats," says Bob Hall
of
Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan public interest group that joined the lawsuit against the new maps.
In 2012, Democrats won the three districts by more than 70 percent of
the vote. Another effect: the surrounding districts were much more
Republican.
Rucho and other Republican legislators had presented the maps as
advantageous
to Democrats. Indeed, registered Democrats actually outnumbered
registered Republicans in seven additional districts beyond those that
were clearly slated to be Democratic.
Emails show Republicans decided to make that fact a major talking point.
But the stat was misleading, as the Republicans' own data indicates.
An internal analysis of one of Hofeller's later drafts (code name "Blue
Horizon 3") obtained by ProPublica shows that those seven allegedly
"competitive" districts would have been landslide wins for John McCain
in 2008, and for Republican Senator Richard Burr in 2010.
The carefully drawn maps
worked.
In this year's elections, Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of
Representatives in North Carolina won 50.6 percent of the total vote.
But the state's House delegation now has nine Republicans and just four
Democrats. One of the Democrats won by just a few hundred voters,
despite the fact that his newly drawn district skewed heavily Republican
and that his own home had been drawn out of it. North Carolina's
delegation before the election had seven Democrats and six Republicans
In addition to his pay from national Republican groups, invoices show Hofeller
billed North Carolina taxpayers $77,000 for his services.
The Republican maps are still under threat by suits filed by
Democrats and the NAACP. The lawsuits are headed to the state Supreme
Court. But a flood of contributions tied to the RSLC have lowered the
risk of the maps' being overturned.
While judicial elections in North Carolina are nominally nonpartisan, it was
common knowledge
that Republicans held a 4-3 majority on the court. One of those
Republican incumbents was facing a tough challenge in 2012, potentially
throwing the whole redistricting result in jeopardy.
Justice Paul Newby was running for re-election against appellate
judge Sam Ervin IV, grandson of the famous North Carolina senator who
investigated Watergate. With a few weeks left until the November
election, Newby was trailing Ervin.
But then, in the final stretch, Newby was the beneficiary of a flood
of late spending that can be traced back to the Republican State
Leadership Committee.
Once again the contributions were funneled through homegrown groups.
With only a few weeks to go, the RSLC gave more than $1.1 million to a
group called Justice for All NC. Campaign finance filings show Justice
for All NC in turn gave nearly $1.5 million to a super PAC running
pro-Newby ads, the NC Judicial Coalition.
Most of the money spent by the super PAC went to pay for
hundreds of airings of a
jingle ad featuring lines like, "Paul Newby / Justice tough but fair / Paul Newby / Criminals best beware" set to infectious banjo music.
The spending didn't end there: and Pope's fingerprints were also on
the race. Two dark money groups affiliated with Pope — the state-based
Civitas Action and
Americans for Prosperity
— spent another $300,000 on radio ads and mailers supporting Newby.
Pope's company also gave to the RSLC in the run-up to this fall's
elections.
Pope says he gave money to Americans for Prosperity for years before
the judicial race even came up, and that he was not involved in the
decision to run pro-Newby ads.
"I'm Republican, I support Republican groups," Pope said. "But just
because you support something doesn't mean you're responsible for all
they do."
It was an unusually large amount of outside spending for a judicial race. The outside pro-Newby groups had
spent more on the race than the two campaigns combined.
In the end, Newby eked out a 52-48 victory, preserving the court's Republican majority.
When the groups contesting the maps called for Newby to recuse
himself from redistricting litigation, lawyers for Republican
legislators
argued that because the campaign ads were paid for by "independent" groups, they did not jeopardize Newby's impartiality.
On Monday, the state Supreme Court rejected the motion for Newby to recuse himself.
"I've got no control over who contributes to an ad. I have no control
over who endorses me," Newby — who did not respond to a request for
comment —
told a local TV station on the eve of the election. "You've got to put your blinders on like lady justice."
But in 1947, Congress under pressure from corporations amended that law to allow states to opt out of those procedures through what proponents call RTW laws. Other than the heart of the old confederacy -- which enacted RTW laws in the same period that states were trying to suppress the civil rights movement, which included many unions acting in solidarity -- most of the states in the country have not adopted RTW.
I am a conscientious buyer and I look for the union label--then I put the item back on the shelf and keep looking for a non-union version, even if I have to resort to foreign-made. I will never willingly or knowingly buy union-made. Never.
What have Unions done for America?
1) 1937: Unions gave us the 40-hour work week. (1 point)
2) Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality (yet folks still aren't making enough to survive--even in Michigan.) (-1/2 point)
3) 1938: The end of child labor. Unions helped, but they didn't do it singlehandedly. (1/3 of a point, since two non-union groups also participated.)
4) 1942: Unions fought for employer-provided health coverage. (1 point)
5) 1993: Medical and family leave act. (1 point)
Total points: 2.83
Wow, what an effective 110 year history unions have had. I think I'll continue to take my chances and keep my money here in the South, where the only people who live in squalor are uneducated or too lazy to find gainful employment (like you can find at any Wal-Mart!)
Long Live Right To Work!