Diane Hendricks and I are both citizens of the State of Wisconsin. We each have a single vote in the upcoming elections for president, senator and other public offices. But that is where our similarities end.
I am an enthusiastic supporter of Russ Feingold for U.S. Senator and a less-than-enthusiastic supporter of Hilary Clinton for President. I have given $50 to the Feingold campaign, and was appropriately punished by receiving a seemingly endless stream of emails in my in-box. If anybody (the FBI, wikileaks, Russian hackers) wants my deleted emails they are welcome to them - the vast majority are unopened.
Diane Hendricks, who owns her own company and has a net worth of $5 Billion, supports Ron Johnson for U.S. Senator and Donald Trump for President. Reportedly, she has already spent $4.7 Million on Trump for President TV ads and $2 Million on Johnson for Senator ads.
If you believe money equals speech, as the majority of Supreme Court Justices did when they made the Citizens United ruling, Ms Hendricks is just choosing to exercise her free speech rights more than I am. If, like me, you are more cynical, you might conclude that she is trying to impose her political choices on her fellow citizens of Wisconsin.
If this is not a strong argument for overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, I don’t know what is!
And then there is the case of the Koch brothers, who don’t even live in Wisconsin, yet are reportedly spending about $1 Million on ads urging that we elect Senator Johnson over former Senator Feingold. Do you call that free speech or legalized pay to play?
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