To buy an election

Once dark money seeps into an election ecosystem, it rarely goes away.

I’ve now received four mailers from a dark money group funding a candidate for sheriff in Orange County. One is a positive piece, the second is positive on one side and negative on the other. The last two are straight-up hit pieces, misleading but probably effective. I expect to see at least one more.

When everybody screams at me for writing this piece, just remember that those anonymous pieces will reach and influence far more people than this newsletter.

I spent much of my professional life providing direct mail to candidates and interest groups. I can say with confidence that the organization is spending well over $50,000 and probably closer to $100,000 on the race. We don’t know who is paying for the campaign because of Citizens United.

The group sending them, Local Accountability PAC, is from Washington, DC, but has ties to Durham. I can’t find a record of how much they spent or when, but I did find that a group called Sheriff Accountability Action with a Durham address has been sending them money for more than a year, including $50,000 this past October.

The only name I can find associated with either organization is Juan Cuba, a self-described “organizer, advocate, and leader” from Miami, Florida, with no obvious ties to Orange County. His group says it wants to reform sheriff’s departments across the country. I suspect he really is just another person who has figured out a good gig separating rich people from their money and spending it in elections on behalf of a cause. It’s a thriving business in the world of political consulting and activism.

The recipient of all the dark money is David LaBarre, who is challenging Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood. Before the independent expenditures, I didn’t have much of a dog in the fight. I would probably have voted for Blackwood anyway because I think he’s done a good job and the people I most trust in Orange County politics all support him.

Now, I’m not just for Sheriff Blackwood, I’m against Mr. LaBarre. As far as I am concerned, he’s damaging our politics and our democracy. The end result of this election will be that sheriff and other local races will get increasingly expensive. Outside groups will begin to have more influence on elections than the people who are served by the candidates. That’s the history of dark money at every level of politics. Once it seeps in, it rarely goes away.

When I wrote about this race earlier in the week, I got a lot of pushback from people who claim Mr. LaBarre had no knowledge of the dark money group’s participation. That’s incredibly naive. No group is spending as much money as Local Accountability PAC is spending without knowing what they are getting.

I’m not accusing Mr. LaBarre of doing anything illegal. Campaign laws today are all just a wink-and-a-nod. He can work with them, raise money for them, and have all sorts of interaction with them without violating campaign finance laws. They are trying to buy the election for him. I can almost guarantee you that he knew they were coming.

As for the issues in this campaign concerning ICE detentions and the Orange County jail, I believe they are fair game. Sheriff Blackwood is the incumbent and his tenure as sheriff is on the ballot. I just don’t believe that groups with no apparent ties to Orange County have any business dominating and shaping the race. I just wish Sheriff Blackwood had raised enough money to defend himself and his department against the distortions.

I’m not opposed to money in campaigns or politics. I believe it’s necessary to educate the public and for candidates to effectively make their case. I’m against unaccountable third-party groups, often with no ties to a district, that spend more than either candidate. I also understand that’s how politics works today. Hell, I’ve participated in it, but I don’t have to like it and I don’t have to support it.

What’s happening in the sheriff’s race will probably change local politics going forward. Candidates will have to raise more money. Some may set up third party organizations that can take larger, undisclosed sums. If Mr. LaBarre wins, he’s the beneficiary of this new paradigm.

There will be consequences, though. If he wins and four years from now some shady group with little accountability attacks him for being owned by a Washington PAC, that’s the new normal. That’s what this campaign has wrought.