What Should Really Anger Democrats

Face The State Staff Editorial

Democrats should be angry, but these days it’s not because Republicans did something to tick them off. Instead, they should be outraged that their party leadership has gladly handed over power to a handful of billionaires all too eager to abandon a respectful debate over ideas in favor of outright character assassination.

In a secret memo leaked to the Rocky Mountain News and revealed on the newspaper’s Tuesday front page, Democrats are proposing a $1.9 million “foot on throat” negative advertising campaign targeting Bob Schaffer, the Republican candidate for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat being vacated this November by the retiring Wayne Allard.

Mai Le/Flickr

As revealed by the Rocky report, the memo—prepared by Democrat polico Dominic DelPapa and sent to an adviser of one of Colorado’s wealthiest individuals, Pat Stryker — exposes a proposal to have a handful of powerful Democrats spend nearly $12 million in 2008 to finance independent organizations—known as 527 committees—that would in turn, help buy T, radio, and mail advertising.

While it is somewhat shocking that the memo was leaked, its contents are extremely predictable, mimicking an upward trend in recent years that has seen the political message of the left defined by a tiny core group of wealthy activists.

In the 2006 general election, Stryker, a billionaire Fort Collins heiress, together with Tim Gill, a gay activist from Denver, spent more than $7 million to help Democrats gain control of both houses of the state legislature, as well as the Governor’s mansion. The contributions were up substantially from 2004, when both Stryker and Gill joined together with Rutt Bridges and Jared Polis to spend $2 million to successfully help Democrats regain control of the state legislature for the first time in four decades.

The contributions were so significant they were the focus of a book earning national interest, titled "Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of The New Rich.” In Chapter 9, author Robert Frank highlights the coalition’s efforts.

While both major political parties use 527s as vehicles for negative campaigning, financial support for GOP-leaning committees is backed by a broader support base comprised of both wealthy and middle class individuals. The only other notable base for Dems? Labor Unions — which supplemented Stryker and Gill’s causes with millions more in 2006.

Many liberals pride themselves on fighting against the interests of the rich and powerful — but what can be said of a Democrat party financed and controlled by billionaires who made it big off capitalism’s great adventure? Kind of makes the prospect of higher taxes on the Middle Class a little tougher to swallow.