Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk? (2016) Movie Script
1
This is it, Senator.
The United States Senate.
Come on.
Long ago
in the good old days,
this was Hollywood's version
of Washington...
The honor of public service,
the prestige
of doing God's work
in the nation's capital.
And while we all like
to relish the patriotic notion
of a nation of the people,
by the people,
and for the people,
it didn't take long
for this freshman senator
to realize that government
may work for certain people
more than others.
- Order, gentlemen.
- Mr. President!
Section 40 is graft!
And I was ready to say so.
I was ready to tell you that
a certain man in my state,
a Mr. James Taylor,
wanted to put through this dam
for his own profit...
A man who controls
a political machine!
Big money
has always been
at the core of our democracy.
The founding fathers all had
their campaign war chests.
In his first colonial campaign,
George Washington spent
his entire budget on booze
to woo voters on election day.
Andrew Jackson was the first
to hire a campaign staff
to raise money.
Then he gave so many jobs
to his supporters
that he became known
for his abuse
of the spoils system.
In 1896,
the titans of industry
put William McKinley
in the White House.
He raked in the equivalent
of $96 million
in today's dollars
from the three richest men
in America,
who made their fortunes
in steel, banking, and oil.
That election held the record
as the most expensive race
in history...
Nine.
Ten, nine, eight...
Until LBJ introduced
the first attack ad,
which ignited the ad wars
that have made the price
of elections go nuclear.
Zero.
But after Nixon got
caught on the receiving end
of paper bags filled with cash
to fund his reelection,
Congress decided
to really step in.
I shall resign the presidency
effective at noon tomorrow.
The Watergate scandal
led to the public financing
of presidential campaigns.
This year on your federal
income tax form,
line number eight
has some very important boxes...
"Yes" boxes and "no" boxes.
If you check the "yes" box,
you'll provide for $1
of your income tax payment
to go into a special
nonpartisan fund
to be distributed
among all eligible candidates
in the 1976
presidential election.
By checking that box
on your tax return,
you funded the elections
of the next five presidents.
But by 2008,
the amount of money
offered in public financing
was not nearly enough
to cover the cost
of political advertising,
so Barack Obama turned down
the $84 million of public funds
and instead raised $1 billion
in private donations...
Igniting the modern-day
fundraising arms race.
And just when you thought
the cost of democracy
couldn't go any higher,
the Supreme Court changed
the rules of the game.
In 2010,
their Citizens United ruling
declared that corporations
and labor unions
have the same free speech
rights as people
and are allowed to give
as much money as they want
to a candidate's Super PAC.
- What do we want?
- Democracy!
- When do we want it?
- Now!
It seems the one thing
that all citizens are united in
is the belief that there's
just way too much money
in this privately funded
system.
This year, the price tag
for the presidency
is projected
to be almost $6 billion.
I support voting rights,
and I will work
to overturn Citizens United
and get the corrupt money
out of politics!
Today we have a campaign
finance system
which is corrupt.
I will tell you
that our system is broken.
I gave to many people
before this.
Before two months ago,
I was a businessman.
I give to everybody.
When they call, I give,
and you know what?
When I need something from them
two years later,
three years later,
I call them.
They are there for me.
And that's a broken system.
So who are
these mega-donors
bankrolling this election?
And what are they getting
in return for their investment?
Let's go find out.
If you want to know who the
biggest campaign donors are,
all you have to do
is go online.
OpenSecrets tracks them all.
For the past year, I've been
chasing down these billionaires
to find out why
they give all this money.
What's in it for them?
Not surprisingly,
only a handful were willing
to go on camera.
Here's the first one
who said yes.
Look, he gave $1 million
to Jeb Bush's Super PAC.
Let's see what he has to say
for himself.
Now, here, look at this.
That's a tiger.
And I'm trying
to preserve them.
How many of them
do you think
are in the wilds of the world?
I don't know.
How many?
2,500 in the wild.
That's the first Picasso
I ever bought.
That's the real thing?
That's the real thing.
You're not worried
that someone's
just gonna come in and take it?
No, um, maybe I should.
Ooh, I wish you
hadn't said that.
Why do you still have
Mitt Romney
right next to you every day?
Well, I keep wishing
that'd he'd come
out of the woodwork and run.
It's always sad for me,
the politics.
I never get a winner.
How much money have you
given in your lifetime?
Um, a lot,
but I don't know.
- You don't know?
- No.
Like, give me a guess.
No, no,
not going to.
So what's in it
for you?
You give all this money.
What's in it for you?
If the right man
becomes president
of the United States,
that's the most fabulous thing
any of us can do
for the country.
I'm not doing it
because I want somebody
to, uh, cut taxes
or do this, that, or the other
which would help me.
Um, I'm doing it to try to get
the best possible person
as president
of the United States
for all America.
So it's a very noble
undertaking.
What do you think
people don't understand
about the...
You know, the players...
They... they...
People think,
"Oh, he's just in it, well,
to see what he can
get out of it."
They really do.
That doesn't enter my mind.
You don't look
at yourself
as one of the sugar daddies
that's funding the campaigns?
I don't ever want to look
at myself as a sugar daddy.
But, um, I really...
Uh, I don't... I don't think
of myself that way.
New York City
is the billionaire capital
of the country.
The most campaign contributions
in America
come from this zip code,
10022,
Manhattan's East Side.
On any given night,
there's a political fundraiser
going on here.
Meet Bernie Schwartz,
one of the biggest donors to
Hillary Clinton's Super PAC.
- No...
- How are you?
I love you very much,
and I wouldn't miss being here
- to say thank you to you.
- Thank you. Thank you.
And I'm flying a flag
over the capital for you,
and at another
appropriate time,
I'm gonna give you
a congressional resolution,
but I didn't want to step
on what's happening here.
Hey, hey, hey,
I love it.
- I love it.
- Okay.
We need somebody
who's going to go out and fight
for the things which will...
Over your lifetime,
how much money have you
given to candidates?
$4 million or $5 million,
maybe, cumulative.
I don't know,
I'm guess... I'm guessing.
- $4 million or $5 million?
- No big deal.
It is a big deal.
I regard it
as a privilege.
I don't regard it
as spending, really.
I'm investing.
I'm investing in something
I believe in.
You make it sound
like writing the check
is a patriotic thing to do.
Absolutely.
There are people in Iraq, uh,
today, young men and women,
uh, who are giving
more than just money.
How much are you
gonna spend in this election?
Um, I'll spend
over $1 million.
I... I don't like
to use the word "spend."
I'd like to say
that I'm investing
in the Democratic Party
and its candidates,
uh, over $1 million.
Do you think the Clintons
would listen to you
if you weren't writing
the check?
Yes.
You don't think that's naive?
I don't ask for, um,
politicians to do what I say.
I want them to hear me
when I have a problem.
So you don't think that your
writing campaign contributions
has helped your business
in any way?
Not directly, no.
I'm proud to say I don't think
there was ever a time
that we received,
through political favor,
an advantage
over our comp... competition.
Anyone can join
the donor class.
All you have to do
is write a really big check,
and you, too, can be a part
of the endless circuit
of mystery appetizers.
- What is that?
- Prosciutto.
Oh, thank you.
The bigger the check,
the closer you get
to the candidate.
The Clintons have been working
these fundraisers for decades
and have a loyal following.
How much money,
in your lifetime,
have you given to the Clintons?
That's a very good question
that I have no intention
of answering.
- None whatsoever.
- Why?
It's my freaki"
private business.
I think
I could find it online.
Good luck.
Enjoy.
Let me know.
'Cause you want
to know the truth?
I don't remember.
Ballpark?
You want a high and a low?
- Sure.
- Yeah, sure.
$100,000,
$10 million.
Well, you said you want
a high and a low.
'Cause I don't remember.
It's been years.
You think I remember
what I gave?
I... I don't remember.
How much money
are you gonna spend
in this election?
I'm not gonna tell you
because I don't know.
If I knew, I could tell you.
It depends on the needs
as they come up.
So I would say it's
in the multimillion dollars.
- That, I can tell you.
- So that's what happens
when you have money
in America...
People come to you
and ask for it.
I love America.
Are you kidding me?
It's great!
How much influence
do you have?
Mm, somewhere between
zero and minus two.
I don't expect politician
to see the world
the way I want them to see it.
The way Hillary Clinton
sees the world,
meaning being basically
a liberal on social issues
and a hawk on national security,
is the way I see... she sees
the world, and I agree.
Wait.
So you don't think
that the politicians
listen to you?
You think they just
show up at your house,
take your check,
and run.
Well, you... you're painting it
in a negative way.
Why don't you
explain it to me, then?
I am trying to explain to you,
but it's not sinking
in your interviewer's
very hardheaded woman.
Listen well
to what I'm saying again.
The reason I give money
to politicians
within the limitations
of the law
is to allow them
to put their message across
to the people.
To put a message across
costs money.
Is it the ideal system?
No.
Is it the law of the land?
Yes.
What do you want from me?
Really it's... it's pretty simple,
pretty simple.
You've helped me simplify
my whole political thoughts.
Of course it seems
totally unbelievable
that anyone would give
$11 million
to a presidential candidate
and expect nothing in return,
but all the billionaires claim
that their intentions
are virtuous.
Not all high rollers are loyal
to one political party.
Some buy into both sides.
- This is Obama in my apartment.
- This is Boehner.
Hold on. Let's do
the close-up. Hold on. Hold on.
And this is Boehner
on the sixth floor
in this office building.
And one of my early heroes,
Ronald Reagan.
You know, when you think
of Ronald Reagan,
you think of an American cowboy
on a horse,
coming... riding down,
uh, from the range.
A surprise birthday party
for President Clinton
in my apartment
when he was still president.
Uh, Hillary in my apartment.
What about George Bush?
Isn't George Bush up there?
- Well, he's some place...
- Yeah, there he is up there.
You know, he made
a lot of mistakes,
but the one thing you know:
He loved America,
and that's important to me too.
President Obama with my wife.
Oh, my God.
How many times
have you been to Camp David?
A few times.
- A few times.
- A few times.
Not many people
have been to Camp David.
Very few.
So who are you
gonna support in 2016?
Well, in the Democratic Party,
I'm supporting Hillary Clinton
in the Democratic primary.
Are you gonna support
any of the Republicans?
I'm... I will support, uh,
Republican candidates.
So why do you give
to both sides?
I get involved
because I want
to be in a position
to make a difference.
I remember my mother-in-law
said to me at one point,
"John, you want to pee with
the large dogs," and I laughed.
And the truth is, if you can't
get up to a certain level
in our life, in our country,
in the world,
then you're not gonna make
a difference.
I want to be at a level
where, if I pick up the phone
and want to call somebody,
that that phone
is gonna be answered.
And money is irrelative.
So how much money
do you think you've given
to political candidates
over the years?
Given and raised?
Probably $100 million.
$100 million?
- Democrats and Republicans?
- Yes.
How much do you think
you're gonna contribute
in 2016?
- I... I don't know.
- Maybe a few million.
Nah,
just a few million.
- No big deal.
- No big deal.
- To you, that's nothing?
- It is nothing.
What's the best
experience you've ever had
from all... all of this?
Spending time
with the president
of the United States.
Who, from being raised
on 135th Street in Harlem,
thought that
I'm gonna rise up,
and the president
of the United States
would know me by my first name?
That was the first big thrill.
Got to pee with the large dogs.
There are large dogs
in every big city
across America, and all
the presidential hopefuls
have to make the odyssey
to hit 'em up for money.
Persistence and determinally...
And determination alone
are omnificent.
That's
what Calvin Coolidge said.
I'd like to have him
be president.
Wait, so I'm gonna
ask you one more time,
what's your secret to success?
Persistence, working hard.
So why did you decide
to start writing checks?
Because I... because I think
those of us that can
should not just be talking;
We should step up to the plate
and help.
You see what's hanging
on the wall in my office?
One of only 400 copies
authorized by Congress
back in 1830 or '40
of the Declaration
of Independence.
It hangs on my wall.
I've actually never
seen one of these.
Great document.
Isn't that wonderful?
So why do you have
the Declaration of Independence
on your wall?
That's why I give money
to politics.
I really believe
in our Constitution
and in our Declaration
of Independence.
I believe in freedom.
And freedom to me is government
being out of your life.
Right?
Stay out of our lives.
Too many regulations.
Too many, uh, tree-hugging
fruitcakes running around
that really don't know
really what makes our economy
or our country work.
I want clean air,
and I want clean water.
But I hear
this global warming nonsense.
That's just politics.
It's just web...
One more way for Obama
and his friends to get power
is to scare people
into thinking
that we're really in danger of
global warming when we're not.
As a matter of fact,
if we had global warming,
it'd be the best thing
that could happen.
So how do you feel
about what...
How the elections have evolved
and the amount of money that's
going into these elections?
I have no problem at all
with the amount of money,
'cause the amount of money that
goes into elections is peanuts.
It's nothing.
To put things in context,
in the la... in the midterm
elections in 2014,
$3.6 billion was spent
on advertising.
Well, guess what.
$11 billion was spent on...
Let me look it up here,
make sure I get it right...
Oh, yeah, on smut.
$11 billion was spent...
Spent on smut.
I think it was $18 billion
was spent selling beer.
So when $3.6 billion was spent
in all the election campaigns
in 2014 across our country
and $11 billion is spent
buying pornography,
it kind of puts things
in perspective, doesn't it?
Oh, I... I'm sorry.
Beer was $83 billion,
not $18 billion.
So what is more important?
Selling lipsticks or letting
people have freedom of speech
to get their message out
and say what they believe?
But people feel
like the billionaires
are just buying votes.
Well, they're made
to feel that way,
and it isn't true.
I still can't believe
that there are no benefits
to giving; I'm trying to get
to the benefit of what...
Well, you know,
some people give money
'cause they want
political clout,
they want to have help,
they want somebody on Capitol
Hill... I mean, I just hate it.
I have never,
ever asked a politician,
from either party,
to do something to help me,
and I never will.
Now, because I help people,
can I get in and talk to them
when somebody else might not?
Sure.
That's human nature.
What do you
talk to them about?
Well, I might talk to them
about, uh...
I might talk to them about
why don't we have
a right to work law
in Minnesota.
Should have.
Most labor people are for it.
You get access.
Yeah, I do.
There's no question about it.
But the voters
are the suckers.
They're just choosing
between two flavors
of the people that you guys
selected to be the candidates.
You can put your name
on the ballot.
You can run for office,
put your name on the ballot.
Then if you go out and talk
enough people into voting,
you can be on the general...
In the general election, right?
I would never want
to do that because...
Oh, okay,
then don't complain.
If you're complaining,
put your name on the ballot.
Enter the system.
But I won't
get anywhere
'cause I don't have
a billionaire.
Maybe if people will like you
and they give you money, right?
In a privately financed
campaign system like ours,
the candidates are forced
to listen to their big donors.
Writing that
million-dollar check
doesn't guarantee
that your candidate will win,
but it will get your issues
heard on the world stage.
- Hi, I'm Foster Friess.
- I've been asked often
why am I so enthusiastic
about Rick Santorum
for president
of the United States.
Rick Santorum authored
the live baby protection act,
which meant, if a baby
survived an abortion
and was still living,
that the medical personnel
required to provide treatment.
Senator Obama was the only
senator in the United States
who voted against that.
Rick Santorum is a honest,
decent, ethical,
hardworking man,
and he's likeable,
and that's why I love
Rick Santorum for president.
Is democracy for sale?
You spent a lot of money
on Rick Santorum
but he didn't win,
so you didn't buy democracy.
You can't buy democracy.
No... well, well, yes.
I did spend a few dollars
to... to... to help him
make his case.
But you're obviously
a very successful businessman,
but when it comes to politics,
you've invested in a candidate
that didn't win.
Do you feel
like you wasted your money?
No, because
how many people now
know about the values
that Rick Santorum,
uh, talked about?
When I was growing up in
a small northern Wisconsin town,
our school system,
our families,
our church,
and our government
all had the same value system.
And now we are torn apart
by so many different
tugging values
that, uh, I want to be
part of the system
that brings us back
to the restoration
of the Judeo-Christian
value system
that made our country great.
So we've promoted ideas that
maybe people, in the back
of their heads, say,
"Gee, maybe I should think
about becoming
"more culturally conservative
"because I don't want
to have to pay the child support
"for those 30 babies
this young fellow fathered
with 24 different mothers."
So I... so... so do you
feel demonized as a donor?
Well, I know many people
dislike me
because of, uh, what
I donate to, but that's okay.
Uh, I don't mean to make myself
more important,
but, you know, they gave Jesus
a pretty rough time
for all the things
that he talked about.
Who would Jesus
write a check to?
Well, I definitely think Jesus
is a Republican.
I'm just joking.
But Jesus
wouldn't attend
every Republican's party.
Real players
like John Jordan
don't only write the big check
to the Super PAC;
They throw parties
to collect smaller checks
that go directly into the
candidate's campaign coffers.
This is
called bundling,
and all the candidates have to
trek to the bundlers' doorsteps
to audition for their support.
My name's John Jordan.
I've raised money;
I've given money;
I've hosted politicians;
I've pretty much seen it all.
If you want
to run for president
and you're a Republican
or a Democrat,
on both sides,
there's a little map
of places and people
that you have to go and meet.
It's almost
like a scavenger hunt.
It's so predictable.
On the Democrat side,
there's a number of places
where they have to go,
and you see each candidate
kind of moving
down the bunny trail,
as it were,
and on the Republican side,
it's the same thing.
How many John Jordans
are there in America?
Well, I'd like to think
there's only one John Jordan,
but, um, on the Re...
On the Republican side,
there's probably,
uh, 50 to 60.
So there's 50 to 60
houses you have to stop at
to pick up the check
if you're running for office?
- Or you have to...
- Or you have to make a pitch.
Now, I don't hand over a check
just 'cause a politician
comes over.
What I will do, however, is
organize an interesting dinner
that's very intimate,
very private,
press-free, camera-free,
where, uh, people
that have a history
of giving collectively,
as a group,
where they've given tens
of millions of dollars
to political candidates
over the last couple of cycles,
they can meet and interact
with a candidate
in a private,
one-on-one setting.
And what I don't do
is let the candidate
deliver their canned speech.
I want people to be able
to interact with them one-on-one
and ask their own questions
and really get a feel
for who that candidate is
as a person
and, more importantly,
how they think.
Tell me
about the donors.
What's an ax-to-grind donor?
An ax-to-grind donor
is somebody
that's kind of cynical about it,
is very... tend to be very
sophisticated in politics,
um, and they generally have
some pecuniary interest,
i.e., a business interest,
um, for, um,
they need the government to do
something or not do something
or some regulatory agency
to help them.
The showboat donors, I think,
are a different class.
They're the ones
that will really go all out
and throw the big party
and write the big check.
There's another kind of donor,
and I like to call them remoras.
Uh, everybody knows or seen
Shark Week on Discovery.
You look up and see the shark
swimming by,
and you see the little tiny fish
underneath
that kind of eats what comes
out of the shark's mouth
with kind of the shark missed.
And there is a class of donors
that kind of fit that category.
They're the ones
that will always go
to the big fundraising dinner,
dutifully write their check,
but they won't ever recruit
other people
or host a fundraiser
of their own.
They're just happy to go
and have their picture taken,
so they're kind of like
the hangers-on.
And big fundraisers depend
on having a big Rolodex
full of those
to fill out the dinner parties
to really make their number.
- Hey, guys!
- Thank you, Mr. President!
- Good to see ya.
- Good to see you.
Good to see you.
There's no shortage
of wealthy patrons
who are willing to spend
tens of thousands of dollars
to line up for a photo op
with the president.
So I'm on line with probably
another 70 people
to have a moment to walk up
to the president
of the United States
and shake his hand and say,
"It's an honor to be here."
I have been giving money
for politics for quite a while.
What it got me was a great seat
at the dinner,
an early place on the line,
and a chance to shake hands
with the president
of the United States.
Tell me about the perks
of being a donor.
Projection of power.
Never underestimate
projection of power.
If I have a picture with me
and President Obama on my wall,
how much influence do I have
over the president?
Does President Obama know me?
Are we on a first name basis?
When I see those
pictures on people's walls,
I know it was
just a ten-second photo op.
True.
You know,
but you don't really know
how well they know the person,
do you?
I have a picture of me,
Hillary Clinton,
and Hillary's holding my
former dog Cap in my apartment.
How well do I know her?
It's on my Facebook page.
How well does Hillary Clinton
know me?
How hard would it be for me to
reach Hillary Clinton right now?
How hard would it be for me
to have a meeting with her?
Or how easy?
Could I get 15 minutes
of her time right now
to discuss something
that's pressing to me?
Depends, how much are
you gonna write a check for?
That's a very fair question.
Are they linked?
Are they?
It's a good question.
Power is what you really have.
Then there's powers
what people think you have.
So the more you have pictures
with powerful people
in your office,
the more powerful
people think you are.
People really do act
differently
when they think you have power.
This goes to our pool.
So...
Oh, there's Obama.
And Joe.
This is like
our vanity wall.
"With friendship."
Vaughan adores that word.
So you have
some serious art in this place.
Yeah,
the Rembrandt is...
That's the most important.
I figured...
I figured that one out.
We've got... I don't know.
There should be pictures in here
of Hillary.
We've always...
Oh, there's some over there.
Me kissing Bill,
that would be a good one.
Let me see.
I don't... um...
Oh, this is the one I love.
What does it say?
In both English and Gaelic,
"You are the best of friends.
Love, Hillary."
So she's
your real friend?
Yeah. She is.
So do you have a lot
of fundraisers in this room?
Oh, my God.
Is this one of those
stops on the scavenger hunt
of where you have to stop
if you're running
for president?
Depending on who's running
for president.
Certainly, with Hillary,
I was one of the first
to do an event for her.
So all through the years,
yeah, I guess,
every presidential
candidate has...
Has come through these doors.
How much are you
gonna raise for Hillary Clinton
- in this election?
- As much as I can.
So how come you're
so loyal to the Clintons?
Well, because they're... first
of all, they're loyal to me.
They're loyal to... they care
about people that support them.
And, ah, I worked
for President Clinton.
He gave me a fabulous job
as the ambassador to Portugal,
which is, you know, something
I'll... I'll never forget.
Very grateful
for that opportunity.
You've been
in this game a long time.
Yeah. Too long.
I keep saying this is my last
presidential election.
Um, when I came back from,
uh, being ambassador,
I thought, "Oh, good, there'll
be others in the system.
Everyone... I'm sure there are
lots of other people."
But I've soon found out
that I was actually needed
to be... people would still
come back and say,
"I need you to help me.
I need you
to do a fundraiser for me."
And you can't say no
because it's so important.
So you can't get out.
You're like...
You're like a prisoner
in the campaign finance game.
I'm just a girl
who can't say no.
That's part of my problem.
I can't say no because
it's just too important.
You strategically place
the George Bush...
Okay,
let's move this book.
Oh, no, there's another
George Bush book.
Oh, this is this book.
I've also got the new one
by, uh, what's-his-name on 41.
How much money
have you given to the Bushes
in your lifetime?
It's been
over a million.
Do you feel like
you've gotten your return
on your investment?
Anybody who thinks
of it that way
shouldn't be giving.
I mean, I give because I think
it's the right thing to do,
and I like to be in the game.
It's fun, you know?
Do you think
people give money
just because they want
to be ambassador?
Well, I hope that's not
the only reason.
I think people, uh,
give for a lot of reasons.
And I think, one... hopefully
the most important...
Is they think it's
the right thing to do,
and that's the right person
to lead the country.
I'll tell you something
that's very interesting.
When President Bush
won the election in 2000,
many of my friends
were getting ambassadorships,
cabinet positions,
other very senior positions
in the government.
He called me and said he had
something very important
he'd like me to do,
uh, and I got very excited.
And I didn't want
an ambassadorship,
which he knew,
and as he was talking,
it was going through my mind
in slow motion what it could be,
and I'd somehow, uh,
come to the conclusion
that he was gonna ask me
to head the CIA
and I was very, very excited.
He then started talking about,
when I visited the mansion,
how close I got and was bonded
to his cat Ernie.
So I'm wondering why
he's going through this,
when I'm on pins and needles
wondering what
I'm really gonna get,
and he said, uh,
"Brad, you know,
"Ernie has not been declawed,
"so we can't take him
to the White House.
"And Laura and I would like you
to take Ernie
during my administration."
How much money did you
raise for George W. Bush?
- A lot.
- More... a lot.
And what'd you get?
I got the frickin' cat.
Politics
is a rich man's game,
and some of the richest
families in America are all in.
Anyone who runs for office
knows
you have to stop in Chicago
to woo a Pritzker.
Yeah, well you can get
a lot of Chicago here.
Yeah, you... this is the...
Can you see Ceres,
the legendary icon
that sits atop
the Chicago Board of Trade,
and it represents
the goddess of wheat.
How often
do people come in here
asking you for money?
Well, I probably get asked
by candidates,
either on the phone or in person
uh, during, uh,
an election year,
uh, just about three times
a week.
There are a parade of
candidates that come to see me.
I suppose the modern-day analogy
might be "Shark Tank."
And, you know, for those of us
who are old enough to remember,
"The Gong Show."
You know, for me, I... I will
say, at least half the time,
I hit the gong
and send 'em out of the room,
uh, because they don't deserve
support if they're not, um,
sincere and if they're not, uh,
truly gonna be supportive
of the issues that I care about.
So how did it play when
you were supporting Hillary
and your sister
was supporting Obama?
And strangely enough,
that wasn't the only rivalry.
My brother was supporting
John McCain.
So people said to us,
"Thanksgiving must be
pretty interesting, uh,
"if your brother's supporting
John McCain,
"your sister's supporting
Barack Obama
and you're supporting
Hillary Clinton."
And which one became
the secretary of commerce?
Well, I don't think
any of us anticipated
becoming a secretary
of anything, but, uh...
But certainly my sister
became the secretary of commerce
in the second term
of President Obama.
Because she had
the smarts
to support him
from the beginning.
Well, I would say
she supported him
from the beginning,
and that certainly played
a big role in it.
I don't know
about the smarts part
because I think I supported
the right candidate
when I supported
Hillary Clinton.
Washington
is full of billionaires
who all have their own agendas,
and by making
campaign contributions,
they can get in
to meet with anyone.
I'm not trying to do
something to get more power
or to get more money
or to get more influence.
I'm trying to do things
to help create more peace
in the Middle East,
for instance, today.
Do you donors have
access because you're a donor?
I think I have more
access because I'm a donor.
The thing is, I can call
any Democratic congressman
or most of the senators and say
I want a meeting
or I want a call
or I want to talk about
something, you know?
And get my calls returned
or get meetings inside.
Even people with a few tens
of thousands of dollars to spend
get a lot of access,
maybe not that much influence,
but a huge amount of access,
which most Americans
just don't have.
Thanks.
Congressman,
thank you very much.
We really appreciate
the work that you do.
If you're the kind of person
who can spend
$20,000, $30,000 a year
in politics, you can meet
with anybody you want.
I think most of these people
are not corrupt in a sense
of, "Oh, there's
a quid pro quo."
"I'm not gonna do something
because some guy who donated
money doesn't like it."
It's more the fact
that they never even hear
from the other side.
They only hear from the people
sort of inside their world,
and the people
inside their world,
after a while,
tend to be the people
that show up at fundraisers.
You don't get poor people
traveling to Washington
and putting on fancy suits
and meeting with their
Congress representatives.
You get rich people or people
hired by rich people, even.
Once, Nancy Pelosi
was safely confined
to liberal San Francisco.
So where
does all the money
from these rich donors go?
Most of it into attack ads
like this...
Would necessarily
skyrocket.
To destroy
a politician's name.
Pelosi has grown
into a power-hungry goliath
defying the will
of the American people.
Who has the power to stop her?
Who can save America?
Vote May 18th,
the day we fight back!
RightChange is responsible
for the content
of this message.
So why did you
make that ad?
I happen to be a big believer
in individual responsibility.
It's not up to somebody else
to take care of you.
It's up to you
to take care of yourself.
You've... you've tried
to buy an election.
Did it work?
That's like, "Have you stopped
beating your wife?"
There's no answer to that.
Have you stopped
beating your wife?
I never started.
Just had
to make that clear.
Yup. Okay.
When you give money,
it says,
"Big pharmaceutical guy
writes big check to candidate."
If you're giving millions
of dollars to Republicans
to make attack ads, there must
be something in it for you.
Yeah,
and then you'd say.
"Well, where's the bright-line
test on that?"
There isn't one
because it's nonsense.
How much
of your own money
have you put into campaigns?
Since the beginning of time,
or...
Sure.
I don't know
the exact number,
but it's in the millions anyway.
So you all say
you're giving millions
and you're not getting
anything out of it, right?
It's just for the good
of America?
But you're making
people hate their politicians.
You're funding a nuclear war
of attack ads
against each other.
I don't think any of us
are engaged
in a nuclear war
against each other.
We may be engaged
in a fistfight
over our respective
belief systems.
But I know that I can argue
vociferously
with some of my friends
about issues
and then we go out
and play ball or have a beer
or whatever you're gonna do.
I mean, come on, this is
the United States of America.
That's what... that's
how our system's set up.
Now, it gets ugly.
I'll give you that.
If you have any question
about what John Kerry's
made of,
just spend three minutes
with the men
who served with him
30 years ago...
I served with John Kerry.
I served with John Kerry.
John Kerry has not been honest
about what happened in Vietnam.
He is lying about his record.
John Kerry betrayed the men
and women he served with
in Vietnam.
- He dishonored his country.
- He most certainly did.
I served with John Kerry.
John Kerry cannot be trusted.
Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth
is responsible for the content
of this advertisement.
"Boone,
thank you for your support.
"We'd go down any canal with you
any day.
"Swift Boats
and Prisoners of Wars
for the Truth."
Why did you put so much
of your own money
towards making George Bush
president?
I didn't want John Kerry.
It's that simple.
The Swift Boat deal,
I think,
won the election in 2004
for Bush.
He may not feel that way,
but I do.
I think it did make
the difference
in who was president
of the United States in 2004.
And, uh, did I run in there
and say,
"Now this is what
I'd like to have"?
No, I never asked, uh,
President Bush for one thing.
But did George Bush
make decisions
that made you more money
as an oil tycoon?
I can't think of anything he
did that... that made me a dime.
For instance, I tried to get
the natural Gas Act passed.
I'm in the oil
and gas business.
I've been in it
for over 50 years.
And I know
that natural gas is cleaner,
and I was trying
to replace diesel
for heavy-duty trucks,
18-wheelers.
There's only two fuels
that will move that 18-wheeler:
Diesel or natural gas.
The natural gas freed up
is directed
to transportation needs
of the country.
The natural gas is cheaper,
cleaner than gasoline,
and its supplies is plentiful,
and most of all, it's American.
It went to the Senate.
It was an amendment
to the transportation bill,
and we got 51 votes...
45 Democrats
and 6 Republicans.
That was
a real eye-opener to me...
After all the time
I spent with the Republicans,
that I... I was...
I got only six votes.
But I had against me
the Koch brothers.
The Koch brothers
had other reasons
for wanting diesel
instead of natural gas.
So do you think
the Koch brothers'
political activism is based
on their bottom line?
I can't say that for sure.
I think...
I think the Koch brothers
are sincere, uh,
conservative people.
If it fits the bottom line,
fine.
But, you know,
they could turn around today
if they were sitting here
and say, "Well, wait a second."
"If you had gotten natural gas
for heavy-duty trucks,
it would've helped
your bottom line too."
That's true.
It would've helped
my bottom line.
I have a big interest
in a company
that is in that business.
Wait, so you spent
your whole life
writing checks to Republicans
and then you wanted
to get some law passed
and they all voted against it?
- Yes.
- You got it right.
So you're
basically telling me
democracy is not for sale.
In this case, I think
they had a better bidder.
I think the Kochs had... had
more, uh, influence than I did.
Do you think that
your bill didn't pass
because the Koch brothers
outspent you?
I think they had more
influence, and over time,
sure, they outspent me.
The Koch brothers
own Koch Industries,
which does business
in oil and gas.
They've put together
a network of donors
who have pledged
to spend almost $1 billion
in this election.
Their political influence
happens to benefit
the fossil fuel industry,
but they say they're
only in this game
because they don't believe
in big government.
So do they donate for
virtuous, ideological reasons
or because it's good
for their bottom line?
I don't know.
They turned down repeated
requests for an interview.
Clean energy and climate
have got to be more
than an environmental issue.
We think it's a way
for Democrats
to talk about our future.
On the Democratic side,
the biggest donor
is billionaire Tom Steyer,
who's fighting big oil.
Thank you very much.
Steyer is very upfront
about what he wants.
He's an activist,
putting his money to work
to promote his cause.
I'm Tom Steyer.
With bold leadership and an
endless supply of wind and sun,
we can do even more.
Through his PAC,
NextGen,
he pumped $74 million
into the last election
for candidates
who are committed
to addressing climate change.
The goal is 50% clean energy
by 2030.
So what are we waiting for?
So let me just back up and say
the mission was very simple.
I wanted to make a movie
about money in politics,
so I went to OpenSecrets,
and I looked up the list
of mega-donors,
and I wrote to the hundred
biggest mega-donors in America.
And you're at the top
of the list.
You did not go
to the list of mega-donors
and go down the list
according to who gave
the most money.
You went to the list of people
who disclosed the money
they gave.
The big money in politics
is dark money.
It's money that you can't trace
and where it isn't disclosed
and where it shows up in the
political system anonymously.
And that's not me,
and that's probably
not the people who...
The bulk of the people
who you called
who see the system differently
and see a real value
to transparency and awareness.
So you're saying you are
an ideological donor.
- Donor, donor.
- Absolutely. Look.
What we're doing is, we're
trying to work as hard as we can
on behalf of what we think of
as traditional American values.
We have no skin in the game
from the point of view
of our self-interest.
We have skin in the game
because we have a strong belief
about what America stands for
and what we should be doing
as a country.
But we're definitely, uh,
people who are working
as hard as we can
on behalf of values.
So every single Republican
that I interviewed
names you as the bogeyman
on the left.
If the Koch brothers can put
all this money into democracy,
why are they demonized?
Look, the Koch brothers are
acting in their self-interest.
The Koch brothers are acting
with as little transparency
as they can get away with.
We are acting completely
transparently.
We are not acting
in our self-interest.
They are Goliath.
They are much bigger than us.
They are much... they are gonna
spend much more money than us.
They are trying to do something
very deliberate.
And we... what we're doing,
I think, is both transparent,
it is not self-interested,
and we understand,
the only real things
that we have on our side
are truth
and the underlying interests
of the American people,
who are the voters.
So when I think about us
versus the Koch brothers,
I can't imagine something
more different, to be honest.
Why are they spending
all that money?
You'd have to ask them.
I'm sure they were more
than happy to talk to you
because they're
very transparent.
No, they're not.
The Koch brothers
- won't give me an interview.
- Exactly!
They said that they're
spending $1 billion
because it's their free speech
right to give money,
but they won't give me
an interview to explain
why they're giving the money.
The last thing they want
to do is sit down with you,
in front of a Sony camera,
and explain exactly
what they're doing.
They're not gonna do it.
So this is
where our story turns,
from the billionaires who claim
they aren't getting anything
in exchange for their donations
to the corporations,
unions, and advocacy groups,
the so-called
special interests,
that contribute millions
to campaigns
with the sole purpose
of getting something back.
These donors aren't giving
because they love America.
They're contributing because
they have a vested interest
in the decisions that
are made in Washington.
The story of money
in politics
isn't just about individuals
writing checks to politicians.
It's also about
the special interest money
in campaigns and in D.C.
You know, special interests
spend over $3 billion every year
on direct lobbying.
They spend another
$3 to $6 billion every year
on trying to influence
our legislation.
Why do corporations put so
much money into our elections?
Terrific return on investment.
There was one tax break that...
Where a group of corporations
got together
and they got
a 22,000% return
on investment,
comparing their
lobbying expenditures
to the money they got
to pocket afterwards.
You know,
one of the things that
when I think about my...
My donation, uh, if anything,
it could be almost
a stupid decision on my part,
because really,
these large,
individual donations
don't matter.
There is a huge apparatus
made up of money and people
representing large corporations
and other significant
special interest groups
that really drive
what's going on in the country.
So you're telling me you wrote
a $10-million check to Ted Cruz
but you don't have
any influence?
I'm telling you that
my ability to influence
what happens in Washington
is not much different
than someone
writing a $100 check.
What is disconcerting for me is,
as I understand, that
what I'm competing against
is a apparatus set up
in Washington
by large corporations
and special interests
that drive not only
what the legislation
that is passed
in the House and Senate
but, just as importantly,
after a law is passed,
the rules around that law.
That's what really sets
the course of the country.
I think there is the belief
that somehow
the whole system in Washington
is not on the level,
that it's tilted
against the ordinary citizen.
And the reason people have that
view is because they're right.
It is tilted
against the ordinary citizen.
It does favor the rich.
You know, when the bankruptcy
bill was, uh, debated,
the student loan indu... industry
said, "Well, guess what."
"If you're bankrupt,
you still have to pay back
your student loans."
Um, really?
Um, but I understand
why that happened.
The bankruptcy laws
favor the banks.
What a surprise.
The banks had the money,
had the lobbyists...
Very effective,
very talented lobbyists...
Thankfully I was
not one of them...
Who argued in favor
of making the bankruptcy laws
very tough on consumers,
difficult to discharge
completely
your debts and obligations.
Well, that's a perfect example
of how economic power
made a very big difference then
and in an ongoing fashion
to the way our finances work
in this country.
Um, and it's true
every single time
the banks or the insurance
companies want something.
They have power;
They have influence;
They have lobbyists;
They can, in many instances,
determine the outcome
of what happens
here in Washington.
Consumers, for example,
have a much harder time.
A lot of business gives money
to be protected from government.
Big business
doesn't have a party.
Big business gives
to both sides.
Big business
is not gonna give
a whole lot more to one side
than they give
to the other side.
That's just kind of
a big business tree.
In 1997, I was asked
to go to, uh, Washington,
out near Seattle,
to meet with Bill Gates.
The general counsel
of Microsoft
had decided they needed
to hire some lobbyists.
Tom Downey, who is a former
Democrat congressman...
Very, very good guy...
And I, as a Republican,
we were the two guys
that he asked
to come out and meet with Gates.
We're sitting there,
and Gates is, you know,
kind of not real comfortable,
and finally he says
to the lawyer,
whose name also happened
to be Bill,
he said, "Bill, I don't know
why we would want
to spend $600,000 a year
on lobbying."
He said,
"There's not anything I want
the government to do for me."
And his lawyer said,
"Well, y'all want
to answer the question?"
And I said, "Yeah, Bill",
"you don't want the government
to do anything for you,
"but this is about trying
to make sure
the government doesn't
do anything to you."
And there are a lot
of businesses whose idea is,
whether through taxation,
through regulatory policy,
through various and sundry
other government actions,
that they don't want to get
the government after 'em.
And for the most part,
these businesses want to give
and have good people
in public office
because they don't want
to get hurt by the government.
As ironic
as it may sound,
there's a new group
of mega-donors
who throw fundraisers
to raise money
to get money out of politics.
What's going on, man?
And the man
who rejected public financing
is now an advocate
for campaign finance reform.
Hey, yo.
And he's working
alongside
some of the biggest names
in political giving.
I don't want to get
all Freudian on you,
but your last name... people
think of your last name
and they think
of money in politics.
How much money do you
think the Soros family,
altogether, has given
to the political system?
- Uh, I mean, the...
- The biggest numbers
were spent starting in 2004.
I think that was $27 million.
That was the big number.
That was the number
that sort of made
my father's reputation
as a political donor.
The Republicans keep saying,
you know, "How is what
George Soros does"
any different
than what David Koch does?"
So people on the left will
argue that it's different
because George Soros is fighting
for all that's good and right
and David and Charles Koch
are fighting
for their own interests.
What you're hearing is,
like,
they're out to destroy America
for themselves
and they just want
to destroy our environment
so that they can continue
polluting,
and that's the story.
Let's take as an argument
that actually
what they're interested in
is the same thing
as what the people on the left
are interested in,
which is the success
of American society
based on their view
of the way it should be.
If you take that argument,
there is really
no difference.
And what's wrong with that?
Well, what's wrong with that
is that it's a fundamentally
undemocratic way
to affect the outcome.
Right?
Not... it's...
What's wrong with it
is not your... is not your desire,
your belief,
your... your motive;
What's wrong with it
is the... is the method.
So there is a whole new
movement of people
that are coming to this,
"We got to get the influence
of money out of politics"?
There is.
It's a slow-growing movement.
It's slower than we would like.
Right now, the major...
The vast majority of the money
that funds elections
comes from a miniscule fraction
of the American public
that is giving, uh... giving
large checks to Super PACs
but also giving
the large checks to campaigns.
But just because you take
a check from someone
doesn't mean you're
gonna vote their way.
May not be true, right?
Sometimes it will be true.
Maybe... you know,
but even if it's not true,
that perception is now ingrained
in the American public.
They believe that that's true.
Poll after poll shows
that people...
That elected representatives
are more likely
to represent the interests
of their donors
than the ordinary voters.
You have to create
an alternative path
so that a candidate can run
a viable campaign
not going after rich people,
actually getting the money
either, you know,
in a... in a public
financing system,
the way that it worked for 40
years for electing presidents,
from Jimmy Carter
through George W. Bush,
or from ordinary folks
giving small contributions
and maximizing them so that
it actually becomes enough money
to run a campaign, right?
There needs to be a path
for a candidate who says,
"I'm... I'm gonna run
without relying on rich people."
Right, we need our democracy
to be more than an argument
among rich people
who are supporting their...
You know, their own candidates.
Campaign finance reform
has become a major issue.
I heard it while I was still
running Republican campaigns
as recently as last year.
People were asking me
about money in politics,
complaining
about money in politics.
This is not just a liberal
issue or a conservative issue,
but it's also, like,
at the core of what America is.
- We're kind of tired.
- People... the people
are kind of tired of...
Of same old, same old.
Right, Tazzy? Yeah.
- What do we want?
- Democracy.
- When do we want it?
- Now!
- What do we want?
- Democracy.
- When do we want it?
- Now!
What this chart shows
is that 90% of Americans
give no money to politicians
and that 9% of Americans
give $300 million,
the Super PACs
give $600 million,
and the lobbyists give...
I don't know how much that is,
but it's a hell of a lot.
Here in New Hampshire, we've
got a chance to fight back.
We stampeders are doing it
by making our outrage
and our demands known
by rubber-stamping
paper currency.
Why are you doing this?
I'm doing it because, uh,
I don't think it's right
for our country to turn
into something that just
benefits, uh, corporations
and the ultra-wealthy.
You know,
I think a lot of people
have opted out of the system.
I mean, a lot of people
have decided,
"Well, I'm not gonna
participate,
"I'm not gonna vote,
'cause my voice doesn't count."
I think that's kind of
a reasonable, uh, point of view.
I mean, how... how is your voice
supposed to count
when these politicians
have been financed
to the tune of $1 billion,
uh, by, you know,
a... a small, wealthy elite?
Do you think there's
too much money in politics?
It's... it's horrible.
We... we live in a moment in time,
you know,
which is the result, uh,
of, um, Citizens... the ruling
on Citizens United
that I think has literally
undermined our democracy.
The influence and impact
of money and, uh,
therefore, a handful of people,
um, uh, I think, is, um,
immoral, unethical,
and certainly undemo...
Undemocratic.
Um, and I think
it undermines the power
of our political process
and our system.
I hate it.
Do you think
that the system is fair?
No.
It's not fair.
Of course it's not fair.
If you're a freethinker,
uh, and you don't have a lot
of rich friends, forget it.
Uh, you... you can't get
a message out there.
What you want is a level,
even playing field.
And it's not level,
and it's not even today.
If you're very wealthy
in this country,
you have a huge advantage
over... over anybody else.
How much money
do you think you've given
to politicians
over the last 20 years?
I have no idea,
but several million.
Have you stopped
writing checks?
I've stopped writing checks
to anyone
who doesn't support
campaign finance reform.
If they support it,
I'll write a check,
regardless of party.
I think it's the number one
issue facing our country.
What is this?
This is an old Japanese
black pine
that died.
And we designed this sculpture
with a seat up there,
where the kids can sit up there
and watch the boats.
It seems like
you've had some sort
of "come to Jesus"
where you decided
the system is rotten.
Well, the system
is totally corroded.
Thinking that, you know,
companies are people
and allowing anybody
to give anything,
any amount they want,
that's just license
for those with a lot of wealth
to buy whatever
their interests are.
So what's inspired you
to give so much money
over the years?
Hopefully
better government.
And I don't think
I've achieved anything.
You know, it's not a situation
where you have a government
by the people
and for the people.
You have a government
by a few people
for the benefit
of a very few people,
and it's going to take campaign
finance reform to change that.
Can we call this
a democracy?
Of course not.
When you have, you know,
the 1% giving this kind of money
to campaigns,
that's not a democracy.
That's why you've got to have
campaign finance reform,
and that's why there's got to be
public financing
with limits on what a campaign
can, uh, solicit
from individual donors.
So if it's not
a democracy, what is it?
Well, it's a plutocracy.
It's a government
that is organized
and run by a few,
and those few are the ones
who write the biggest checks.
This is the major reason,
right here,
on why I'm really interested
in campaign finance reform.
This is the future right here,
and if we don't
protect the future,
uh, we're gonna be
in serious trouble.
I would love to have him
grow up in a democracy
and not in a country
where every interest is funded
by some kind
of a lobbying firm.
And I hope he never
becomes a lobbyist.
Can you say
"plutocracy"?
"Democracy"?
Which one is it?
As more money
is pouring into our elections
than at any other time
in our nation's history,
it begs the question:
Is this still a nation
of, by, and for the people?
Or have we become a nation
of, by, and for
only the wealthy few?
For the past century,
many brave women and men
have fought
for the right to vote.
But these days, only half
of the eligible voters
in America even turn out.
Whether the donors' influence
is real or just perceived,
their money has clearly damaged
the way Americans feel
about their democracy.
Perhaps if we got the big money
out of politics,
we could get more voters
back in.
This is it, Senator.
The United States Senate.
Come on.
Long ago
in the good old days,
this was Hollywood's version
of Washington...
The honor of public service,
the prestige
of doing God's work
in the nation's capital.
And while we all like
to relish the patriotic notion
of a nation of the people,
by the people,
and for the people,
it didn't take long
for this freshman senator
to realize that government
may work for certain people
more than others.
- Order, gentlemen.
- Mr. President!
Section 40 is graft!
And I was ready to say so.
I was ready to tell you that
a certain man in my state,
a Mr. James Taylor,
wanted to put through this dam
for his own profit...
A man who controls
a political machine!
Big money
has always been
at the core of our democracy.
The founding fathers all had
their campaign war chests.
In his first colonial campaign,
George Washington spent
his entire budget on booze
to woo voters on election day.
Andrew Jackson was the first
to hire a campaign staff
to raise money.
Then he gave so many jobs
to his supporters
that he became known
for his abuse
of the spoils system.
In 1896,
the titans of industry
put William McKinley
in the White House.
He raked in the equivalent
of $96 million
in today's dollars
from the three richest men
in America,
who made their fortunes
in steel, banking, and oil.
That election held the record
as the most expensive race
in history...
Nine.
Ten, nine, eight...
Until LBJ introduced
the first attack ad,
which ignited the ad wars
that have made the price
of elections go nuclear.
Zero.
But after Nixon got
caught on the receiving end
of paper bags filled with cash
to fund his reelection,
Congress decided
to really step in.
I shall resign the presidency
effective at noon tomorrow.
The Watergate scandal
led to the public financing
of presidential campaigns.
This year on your federal
income tax form,
line number eight
has some very important boxes...
"Yes" boxes and "no" boxes.
If you check the "yes" box,
you'll provide for $1
of your income tax payment
to go into a special
nonpartisan fund
to be distributed
among all eligible candidates
in the 1976
presidential election.
By checking that box
on your tax return,
you funded the elections
of the next five presidents.
But by 2008,
the amount of money
offered in public financing
was not nearly enough
to cover the cost
of political advertising,
so Barack Obama turned down
the $84 million of public funds
and instead raised $1 billion
in private donations...
Igniting the modern-day
fundraising arms race.
And just when you thought
the cost of democracy
couldn't go any higher,
the Supreme Court changed
the rules of the game.
In 2010,
their Citizens United ruling
declared that corporations
and labor unions
have the same free speech
rights as people
and are allowed to give
as much money as they want
to a candidate's Super PAC.
- What do we want?
- Democracy!
- When do we want it?
- Now!
It seems the one thing
that all citizens are united in
is the belief that there's
just way too much money
in this privately funded
system.
This year, the price tag
for the presidency
is projected
to be almost $6 billion.
I support voting rights,
and I will work
to overturn Citizens United
and get the corrupt money
out of politics!
Today we have a campaign
finance system
which is corrupt.
I will tell you
that our system is broken.
I gave to many people
before this.
Before two months ago,
I was a businessman.
I give to everybody.
When they call, I give,
and you know what?
When I need something from them
two years later,
three years later,
I call them.
They are there for me.
And that's a broken system.
So who are
these mega-donors
bankrolling this election?
And what are they getting
in return for their investment?
Let's go find out.
If you want to know who the
biggest campaign donors are,
all you have to do
is go online.
OpenSecrets tracks them all.
For the past year, I've been
chasing down these billionaires
to find out why
they give all this money.
What's in it for them?
Not surprisingly,
only a handful were willing
to go on camera.
Here's the first one
who said yes.
Look, he gave $1 million
to Jeb Bush's Super PAC.
Let's see what he has to say
for himself.
Now, here, look at this.
That's a tiger.
And I'm trying
to preserve them.
How many of them
do you think
are in the wilds of the world?
I don't know.
How many?
2,500 in the wild.
That's the first Picasso
I ever bought.
That's the real thing?
That's the real thing.
You're not worried
that someone's
just gonna come in and take it?
No, um, maybe I should.
Ooh, I wish you
hadn't said that.
Why do you still have
Mitt Romney
right next to you every day?
Well, I keep wishing
that'd he'd come
out of the woodwork and run.
It's always sad for me,
the politics.
I never get a winner.
How much money have you
given in your lifetime?
Um, a lot,
but I don't know.
- You don't know?
- No.
Like, give me a guess.
No, no,
not going to.
So what's in it
for you?
You give all this money.
What's in it for you?
If the right man
becomes president
of the United States,
that's the most fabulous thing
any of us can do
for the country.
I'm not doing it
because I want somebody
to, uh, cut taxes
or do this, that, or the other
which would help me.
Um, I'm doing it to try to get
the best possible person
as president
of the United States
for all America.
So it's a very noble
undertaking.
What do you think
people don't understand
about the...
You know, the players...
They... they...
People think,
"Oh, he's just in it, well,
to see what he can
get out of it."
They really do.
That doesn't enter my mind.
You don't look
at yourself
as one of the sugar daddies
that's funding the campaigns?
I don't ever want to look
at myself as a sugar daddy.
But, um, I really...
Uh, I don't... I don't think
of myself that way.
New York City
is the billionaire capital
of the country.
The most campaign contributions
in America
come from this zip code,
10022,
Manhattan's East Side.
On any given night,
there's a political fundraiser
going on here.
Meet Bernie Schwartz,
one of the biggest donors to
Hillary Clinton's Super PAC.
- No...
- How are you?
I love you very much,
and I wouldn't miss being here
- to say thank you to you.
- Thank you. Thank you.
And I'm flying a flag
over the capital for you,
and at another
appropriate time,
I'm gonna give you
a congressional resolution,
but I didn't want to step
on what's happening here.
Hey, hey, hey,
I love it.
- I love it.
- Okay.
We need somebody
who's going to go out and fight
for the things which will...
Over your lifetime,
how much money have you
given to candidates?
$4 million or $5 million,
maybe, cumulative.
I don't know,
I'm guess... I'm guessing.
- $4 million or $5 million?
- No big deal.
It is a big deal.
I regard it
as a privilege.
I don't regard it
as spending, really.
I'm investing.
I'm investing in something
I believe in.
You make it sound
like writing the check
is a patriotic thing to do.
Absolutely.
There are people in Iraq, uh,
today, young men and women,
uh, who are giving
more than just money.
How much are you
gonna spend in this election?
Um, I'll spend
over $1 million.
I... I don't like
to use the word "spend."
I'd like to say
that I'm investing
in the Democratic Party
and its candidates,
uh, over $1 million.
Do you think the Clintons
would listen to you
if you weren't writing
the check?
Yes.
You don't think that's naive?
I don't ask for, um,
politicians to do what I say.
I want them to hear me
when I have a problem.
So you don't think that your
writing campaign contributions
has helped your business
in any way?
Not directly, no.
I'm proud to say I don't think
there was ever a time
that we received,
through political favor,
an advantage
over our comp... competition.
Anyone can join
the donor class.
All you have to do
is write a really big check,
and you, too, can be a part
of the endless circuit
of mystery appetizers.
- What is that?
- Prosciutto.
Oh, thank you.
The bigger the check,
the closer you get
to the candidate.
The Clintons have been working
these fundraisers for decades
and have a loyal following.
How much money,
in your lifetime,
have you given to the Clintons?
That's a very good question
that I have no intention
of answering.
- None whatsoever.
- Why?
It's my freaki"
private business.
I think
I could find it online.
Good luck.
Enjoy.
Let me know.
'Cause you want
to know the truth?
I don't remember.
Ballpark?
You want a high and a low?
- Sure.
- Yeah, sure.
$100,000,
$10 million.
Well, you said you want
a high and a low.
'Cause I don't remember.
It's been years.
You think I remember
what I gave?
I... I don't remember.
How much money
are you gonna spend
in this election?
I'm not gonna tell you
because I don't know.
If I knew, I could tell you.
It depends on the needs
as they come up.
So I would say it's
in the multimillion dollars.
- That, I can tell you.
- So that's what happens
when you have money
in America...
People come to you
and ask for it.
I love America.
Are you kidding me?
It's great!
How much influence
do you have?
Mm, somewhere between
zero and minus two.
I don't expect politician
to see the world
the way I want them to see it.
The way Hillary Clinton
sees the world,
meaning being basically
a liberal on social issues
and a hawk on national security,
is the way I see... she sees
the world, and I agree.
Wait.
So you don't think
that the politicians
listen to you?
You think they just
show up at your house,
take your check,
and run.
Well, you... you're painting it
in a negative way.
Why don't you
explain it to me, then?
I am trying to explain to you,
but it's not sinking
in your interviewer's
very hardheaded woman.
Listen well
to what I'm saying again.
The reason I give money
to politicians
within the limitations
of the law
is to allow them
to put their message across
to the people.
To put a message across
costs money.
Is it the ideal system?
No.
Is it the law of the land?
Yes.
What do you want from me?
Really it's... it's pretty simple,
pretty simple.
You've helped me simplify
my whole political thoughts.
Of course it seems
totally unbelievable
that anyone would give
$11 million
to a presidential candidate
and expect nothing in return,
but all the billionaires claim
that their intentions
are virtuous.
Not all high rollers are loyal
to one political party.
Some buy into both sides.
- This is Obama in my apartment.
- This is Boehner.
Hold on. Let's do
the close-up. Hold on. Hold on.
And this is Boehner
on the sixth floor
in this office building.
And one of my early heroes,
Ronald Reagan.
You know, when you think
of Ronald Reagan,
you think of an American cowboy
on a horse,
coming... riding down,
uh, from the range.
A surprise birthday party
for President Clinton
in my apartment
when he was still president.
Uh, Hillary in my apartment.
What about George Bush?
Isn't George Bush up there?
- Well, he's some place...
- Yeah, there he is up there.
You know, he made
a lot of mistakes,
but the one thing you know:
He loved America,
and that's important to me too.
President Obama with my wife.
Oh, my God.
How many times
have you been to Camp David?
A few times.
- A few times.
- A few times.
Not many people
have been to Camp David.
Very few.
So who are you
gonna support in 2016?
Well, in the Democratic Party,
I'm supporting Hillary Clinton
in the Democratic primary.
Are you gonna support
any of the Republicans?
I'm... I will support, uh,
Republican candidates.
So why do you give
to both sides?
I get involved
because I want
to be in a position
to make a difference.
I remember my mother-in-law
said to me at one point,
"John, you want to pee with
the large dogs," and I laughed.
And the truth is, if you can't
get up to a certain level
in our life, in our country,
in the world,
then you're not gonna make
a difference.
I want to be at a level
where, if I pick up the phone
and want to call somebody,
that that phone
is gonna be answered.
And money is irrelative.
So how much money
do you think you've given
to political candidates
over the years?
Given and raised?
Probably $100 million.
$100 million?
- Democrats and Republicans?
- Yes.
How much do you think
you're gonna contribute
in 2016?
- I... I don't know.
- Maybe a few million.
Nah,
just a few million.
- No big deal.
- No big deal.
- To you, that's nothing?
- It is nothing.
What's the best
experience you've ever had
from all... all of this?
Spending time
with the president
of the United States.
Who, from being raised
on 135th Street in Harlem,
thought that
I'm gonna rise up,
and the president
of the United States
would know me by my first name?
That was the first big thrill.
Got to pee with the large dogs.
There are large dogs
in every big city
across America, and all
the presidential hopefuls
have to make the odyssey
to hit 'em up for money.
Persistence and determinally...
And determination alone
are omnificent.
That's
what Calvin Coolidge said.
I'd like to have him
be president.
Wait, so I'm gonna
ask you one more time,
what's your secret to success?
Persistence, working hard.
So why did you decide
to start writing checks?
Because I... because I think
those of us that can
should not just be talking;
We should step up to the plate
and help.
You see what's hanging
on the wall in my office?
One of only 400 copies
authorized by Congress
back in 1830 or '40
of the Declaration
of Independence.
It hangs on my wall.
I've actually never
seen one of these.
Great document.
Isn't that wonderful?
So why do you have
the Declaration of Independence
on your wall?
That's why I give money
to politics.
I really believe
in our Constitution
and in our Declaration
of Independence.
I believe in freedom.
And freedom to me is government
being out of your life.
Right?
Stay out of our lives.
Too many regulations.
Too many, uh, tree-hugging
fruitcakes running around
that really don't know
really what makes our economy
or our country work.
I want clean air,
and I want clean water.
But I hear
this global warming nonsense.
That's just politics.
It's just web...
One more way for Obama
and his friends to get power
is to scare people
into thinking
that we're really in danger of
global warming when we're not.
As a matter of fact,
if we had global warming,
it'd be the best thing
that could happen.
So how do you feel
about what...
How the elections have evolved
and the amount of money that's
going into these elections?
I have no problem at all
with the amount of money,
'cause the amount of money that
goes into elections is peanuts.
It's nothing.
To put things in context,
in the la... in the midterm
elections in 2014,
$3.6 billion was spent
on advertising.
Well, guess what.
$11 billion was spent on...
Let me look it up here,
make sure I get it right...
Oh, yeah, on smut.
$11 billion was spent...
Spent on smut.
I think it was $18 billion
was spent selling beer.
So when $3.6 billion was spent
in all the election campaigns
in 2014 across our country
and $11 billion is spent
buying pornography,
it kind of puts things
in perspective, doesn't it?
Oh, I... I'm sorry.
Beer was $83 billion,
not $18 billion.
So what is more important?
Selling lipsticks or letting
people have freedom of speech
to get their message out
and say what they believe?
But people feel
like the billionaires
are just buying votes.
Well, they're made
to feel that way,
and it isn't true.
I still can't believe
that there are no benefits
to giving; I'm trying to get
to the benefit of what...
Well, you know,
some people give money
'cause they want
political clout,
they want to have help,
they want somebody on Capitol
Hill... I mean, I just hate it.
I have never,
ever asked a politician,
from either party,
to do something to help me,
and I never will.
Now, because I help people,
can I get in and talk to them
when somebody else might not?
Sure.
That's human nature.
What do you
talk to them about?
Well, I might talk to them
about, uh...
I might talk to them about
why don't we have
a right to work law
in Minnesota.
Should have.
Most labor people are for it.
You get access.
Yeah, I do.
There's no question about it.
But the voters
are the suckers.
They're just choosing
between two flavors
of the people that you guys
selected to be the candidates.
You can put your name
on the ballot.
You can run for office,
put your name on the ballot.
Then if you go out and talk
enough people into voting,
you can be on the general...
In the general election, right?
I would never want
to do that because...
Oh, okay,
then don't complain.
If you're complaining,
put your name on the ballot.
Enter the system.
But I won't
get anywhere
'cause I don't have
a billionaire.
Maybe if people will like you
and they give you money, right?
In a privately financed
campaign system like ours,
the candidates are forced
to listen to their big donors.
Writing that
million-dollar check
doesn't guarantee
that your candidate will win,
but it will get your issues
heard on the world stage.
- Hi, I'm Foster Friess.
- I've been asked often
why am I so enthusiastic
about Rick Santorum
for president
of the United States.
Rick Santorum authored
the live baby protection act,
which meant, if a baby
survived an abortion
and was still living,
that the medical personnel
required to provide treatment.
Senator Obama was the only
senator in the United States
who voted against that.
Rick Santorum is a honest,
decent, ethical,
hardworking man,
and he's likeable,
and that's why I love
Rick Santorum for president.
Is democracy for sale?
You spent a lot of money
on Rick Santorum
but he didn't win,
so you didn't buy democracy.
You can't buy democracy.
No... well, well, yes.
I did spend a few dollars
to... to... to help him
make his case.
But you're obviously
a very successful businessman,
but when it comes to politics,
you've invested in a candidate
that didn't win.
Do you feel
like you wasted your money?
No, because
how many people now
know about the values
that Rick Santorum,
uh, talked about?
When I was growing up in
a small northern Wisconsin town,
our school system,
our families,
our church,
and our government
all had the same value system.
And now we are torn apart
by so many different
tugging values
that, uh, I want to be
part of the system
that brings us back
to the restoration
of the Judeo-Christian
value system
that made our country great.
So we've promoted ideas that
maybe people, in the back
of their heads, say,
"Gee, maybe I should think
about becoming
"more culturally conservative
"because I don't want
to have to pay the child support
"for those 30 babies
this young fellow fathered
with 24 different mothers."
So I... so... so do you
feel demonized as a donor?
Well, I know many people
dislike me
because of, uh, what
I donate to, but that's okay.
Uh, I don't mean to make myself
more important,
but, you know, they gave Jesus
a pretty rough time
for all the things
that he talked about.
Who would Jesus
write a check to?
Well, I definitely think Jesus
is a Republican.
I'm just joking.
But Jesus
wouldn't attend
every Republican's party.
Real players
like John Jordan
don't only write the big check
to the Super PAC;
They throw parties
to collect smaller checks
that go directly into the
candidate's campaign coffers.
This is
called bundling,
and all the candidates have to
trek to the bundlers' doorsteps
to audition for their support.
My name's John Jordan.
I've raised money;
I've given money;
I've hosted politicians;
I've pretty much seen it all.
If you want
to run for president
and you're a Republican
or a Democrat,
on both sides,
there's a little map
of places and people
that you have to go and meet.
It's almost
like a scavenger hunt.
It's so predictable.
On the Democrat side,
there's a number of places
where they have to go,
and you see each candidate
kind of moving
down the bunny trail,
as it were,
and on the Republican side,
it's the same thing.
How many John Jordans
are there in America?
Well, I'd like to think
there's only one John Jordan,
but, um, on the Re...
On the Republican side,
there's probably,
uh, 50 to 60.
So there's 50 to 60
houses you have to stop at
to pick up the check
if you're running for office?
- Or you have to...
- Or you have to make a pitch.
Now, I don't hand over a check
just 'cause a politician
comes over.
What I will do, however, is
organize an interesting dinner
that's very intimate,
very private,
press-free, camera-free,
where, uh, people
that have a history
of giving collectively,
as a group,
where they've given tens
of millions of dollars
to political candidates
over the last couple of cycles,
they can meet and interact
with a candidate
in a private,
one-on-one setting.
And what I don't do
is let the candidate
deliver their canned speech.
I want people to be able
to interact with them one-on-one
and ask their own questions
and really get a feel
for who that candidate is
as a person
and, more importantly,
how they think.
Tell me
about the donors.
What's an ax-to-grind donor?
An ax-to-grind donor
is somebody
that's kind of cynical about it,
is very... tend to be very
sophisticated in politics,
um, and they generally have
some pecuniary interest,
i.e., a business interest,
um, for, um,
they need the government to do
something or not do something
or some regulatory agency
to help them.
The showboat donors, I think,
are a different class.
They're the ones
that will really go all out
and throw the big party
and write the big check.
There's another kind of donor,
and I like to call them remoras.
Uh, everybody knows or seen
Shark Week on Discovery.
You look up and see the shark
swimming by,
and you see the little tiny fish
underneath
that kind of eats what comes
out of the shark's mouth
with kind of the shark missed.
And there is a class of donors
that kind of fit that category.
They're the ones
that will always go
to the big fundraising dinner,
dutifully write their check,
but they won't ever recruit
other people
or host a fundraiser
of their own.
They're just happy to go
and have their picture taken,
so they're kind of like
the hangers-on.
And big fundraisers depend
on having a big Rolodex
full of those
to fill out the dinner parties
to really make their number.
- Hey, guys!
- Thank you, Mr. President!
- Good to see ya.
- Good to see you.
Good to see you.
There's no shortage
of wealthy patrons
who are willing to spend
tens of thousands of dollars
to line up for a photo op
with the president.
So I'm on line with probably
another 70 people
to have a moment to walk up
to the president
of the United States
and shake his hand and say,
"It's an honor to be here."
I have been giving money
for politics for quite a while.
What it got me was a great seat
at the dinner,
an early place on the line,
and a chance to shake hands
with the president
of the United States.
Tell me about the perks
of being a donor.
Projection of power.
Never underestimate
projection of power.
If I have a picture with me
and President Obama on my wall,
how much influence do I have
over the president?
Does President Obama know me?
Are we on a first name basis?
When I see those
pictures on people's walls,
I know it was
just a ten-second photo op.
True.
You know,
but you don't really know
how well they know the person,
do you?
I have a picture of me,
Hillary Clinton,
and Hillary's holding my
former dog Cap in my apartment.
How well do I know her?
It's on my Facebook page.
How well does Hillary Clinton
know me?
How hard would it be for me to
reach Hillary Clinton right now?
How hard would it be for me
to have a meeting with her?
Or how easy?
Could I get 15 minutes
of her time right now
to discuss something
that's pressing to me?
Depends, how much are
you gonna write a check for?
That's a very fair question.
Are they linked?
Are they?
It's a good question.
Power is what you really have.
Then there's powers
what people think you have.
So the more you have pictures
with powerful people
in your office,
the more powerful
people think you are.
People really do act
differently
when they think you have power.
This goes to our pool.
So...
Oh, there's Obama.
And Joe.
This is like
our vanity wall.
"With friendship."
Vaughan adores that word.
So you have
some serious art in this place.
Yeah,
the Rembrandt is...
That's the most important.
I figured...
I figured that one out.
We've got... I don't know.
There should be pictures in here
of Hillary.
We've always...
Oh, there's some over there.
Me kissing Bill,
that would be a good one.
Let me see.
I don't... um...
Oh, this is the one I love.
What does it say?
In both English and Gaelic,
"You are the best of friends.
Love, Hillary."
So she's
your real friend?
Yeah. She is.
So do you have a lot
of fundraisers in this room?
Oh, my God.
Is this one of those
stops on the scavenger hunt
of where you have to stop
if you're running
for president?
Depending on who's running
for president.
Certainly, with Hillary,
I was one of the first
to do an event for her.
So all through the years,
yeah, I guess,
every presidential
candidate has...
Has come through these doors.
How much are you
gonna raise for Hillary Clinton
- in this election?
- As much as I can.
So how come you're
so loyal to the Clintons?
Well, because they're... first
of all, they're loyal to me.
They're loyal to... they care
about people that support them.
And, ah, I worked
for President Clinton.
He gave me a fabulous job
as the ambassador to Portugal,
which is, you know, something
I'll... I'll never forget.
Very grateful
for that opportunity.
You've been
in this game a long time.
Yeah. Too long.
I keep saying this is my last
presidential election.
Um, when I came back from,
uh, being ambassador,
I thought, "Oh, good, there'll
be others in the system.
Everyone... I'm sure there are
lots of other people."
But I've soon found out
that I was actually needed
to be... people would still
come back and say,
"I need you to help me.
I need you
to do a fundraiser for me."
And you can't say no
because it's so important.
So you can't get out.
You're like...
You're like a prisoner
in the campaign finance game.
I'm just a girl
who can't say no.
That's part of my problem.
I can't say no because
it's just too important.
You strategically place
the George Bush...
Okay,
let's move this book.
Oh, no, there's another
George Bush book.
Oh, this is this book.
I've also got the new one
by, uh, what's-his-name on 41.
How much money
have you given to the Bushes
in your lifetime?
It's been
over a million.
Do you feel like
you've gotten your return
on your investment?
Anybody who thinks
of it that way
shouldn't be giving.
I mean, I give because I think
it's the right thing to do,
and I like to be in the game.
It's fun, you know?
Do you think
people give money
just because they want
to be ambassador?
Well, I hope that's not
the only reason.
I think people, uh,
give for a lot of reasons.
And I think, one... hopefully
the most important...
Is they think it's
the right thing to do,
and that's the right person
to lead the country.
I'll tell you something
that's very interesting.
When President Bush
won the election in 2000,
many of my friends
were getting ambassadorships,
cabinet positions,
other very senior positions
in the government.
He called me and said he had
something very important
he'd like me to do,
uh, and I got very excited.
And I didn't want
an ambassadorship,
which he knew,
and as he was talking,
it was going through my mind
in slow motion what it could be,
and I'd somehow, uh,
come to the conclusion
that he was gonna ask me
to head the CIA
and I was very, very excited.
He then started talking about,
when I visited the mansion,
how close I got and was bonded
to his cat Ernie.
So I'm wondering why
he's going through this,
when I'm on pins and needles
wondering what
I'm really gonna get,
and he said, uh,
"Brad, you know,
"Ernie has not been declawed,
"so we can't take him
to the White House.
"And Laura and I would like you
to take Ernie
during my administration."
How much money did you
raise for George W. Bush?
- A lot.
- More... a lot.
And what'd you get?
I got the frickin' cat.
Politics
is a rich man's game,
and some of the richest
families in America are all in.
Anyone who runs for office
knows
you have to stop in Chicago
to woo a Pritzker.
Yeah, well you can get
a lot of Chicago here.
Yeah, you... this is the...
Can you see Ceres,
the legendary icon
that sits atop
the Chicago Board of Trade,
and it represents
the goddess of wheat.
How often
do people come in here
asking you for money?
Well, I probably get asked
by candidates,
either on the phone or in person
uh, during, uh,
an election year,
uh, just about three times
a week.
There are a parade of
candidates that come to see me.
I suppose the modern-day analogy
might be "Shark Tank."
And, you know, for those of us
who are old enough to remember,
"The Gong Show."
You know, for me, I... I will
say, at least half the time,
I hit the gong
and send 'em out of the room,
uh, because they don't deserve
support if they're not, um,
sincere and if they're not, uh,
truly gonna be supportive
of the issues that I care about.
So how did it play when
you were supporting Hillary
and your sister
was supporting Obama?
And strangely enough,
that wasn't the only rivalry.
My brother was supporting
John McCain.
So people said to us,
"Thanksgiving must be
pretty interesting, uh,
"if your brother's supporting
John McCain,
"your sister's supporting
Barack Obama
and you're supporting
Hillary Clinton."
And which one became
the secretary of commerce?
Well, I don't think
any of us anticipated
becoming a secretary
of anything, but, uh...
But certainly my sister
became the secretary of commerce
in the second term
of President Obama.
Because she had
the smarts
to support him
from the beginning.
Well, I would say
she supported him
from the beginning,
and that certainly played
a big role in it.
I don't know
about the smarts part
because I think I supported
the right candidate
when I supported
Hillary Clinton.
Washington
is full of billionaires
who all have their own agendas,
and by making
campaign contributions,
they can get in
to meet with anyone.
I'm not trying to do
something to get more power
or to get more money
or to get more influence.
I'm trying to do things
to help create more peace
in the Middle East,
for instance, today.
Do you donors have
access because you're a donor?
I think I have more
access because I'm a donor.
The thing is, I can call
any Democratic congressman
or most of the senators and say
I want a meeting
or I want a call
or I want to talk about
something, you know?
And get my calls returned
or get meetings inside.
Even people with a few tens
of thousands of dollars to spend
get a lot of access,
maybe not that much influence,
but a huge amount of access,
which most Americans
just don't have.
Thanks.
Congressman,
thank you very much.
We really appreciate
the work that you do.
If you're the kind of person
who can spend
$20,000, $30,000 a year
in politics, you can meet
with anybody you want.
I think most of these people
are not corrupt in a sense
of, "Oh, there's
a quid pro quo."
"I'm not gonna do something
because some guy who donated
money doesn't like it."
It's more the fact
that they never even hear
from the other side.
They only hear from the people
sort of inside their world,
and the people
inside their world,
after a while,
tend to be the people
that show up at fundraisers.
You don't get poor people
traveling to Washington
and putting on fancy suits
and meeting with their
Congress representatives.
You get rich people or people
hired by rich people, even.
Once, Nancy Pelosi
was safely confined
to liberal San Francisco.
So where
does all the money
from these rich donors go?
Most of it into attack ads
like this...
Would necessarily
skyrocket.
To destroy
a politician's name.
Pelosi has grown
into a power-hungry goliath
defying the will
of the American people.
Who has the power to stop her?
Who can save America?
Vote May 18th,
the day we fight back!
RightChange is responsible
for the content
of this message.
So why did you
make that ad?
I happen to be a big believer
in individual responsibility.
It's not up to somebody else
to take care of you.
It's up to you
to take care of yourself.
You've... you've tried
to buy an election.
Did it work?
That's like, "Have you stopped
beating your wife?"
There's no answer to that.
Have you stopped
beating your wife?
I never started.
Just had
to make that clear.
Yup. Okay.
When you give money,
it says,
"Big pharmaceutical guy
writes big check to candidate."
If you're giving millions
of dollars to Republicans
to make attack ads, there must
be something in it for you.
Yeah,
and then you'd say.
"Well, where's the bright-line
test on that?"
There isn't one
because it's nonsense.
How much
of your own money
have you put into campaigns?
Since the beginning of time,
or...
Sure.
I don't know
the exact number,
but it's in the millions anyway.
So you all say
you're giving millions
and you're not getting
anything out of it, right?
It's just for the good
of America?
But you're making
people hate their politicians.
You're funding a nuclear war
of attack ads
against each other.
I don't think any of us
are engaged
in a nuclear war
against each other.
We may be engaged
in a fistfight
over our respective
belief systems.
But I know that I can argue
vociferously
with some of my friends
about issues
and then we go out
and play ball or have a beer
or whatever you're gonna do.
I mean, come on, this is
the United States of America.
That's what... that's
how our system's set up.
Now, it gets ugly.
I'll give you that.
If you have any question
about what John Kerry's
made of,
just spend three minutes
with the men
who served with him
30 years ago...
I served with John Kerry.
I served with John Kerry.
John Kerry has not been honest
about what happened in Vietnam.
He is lying about his record.
John Kerry betrayed the men
and women he served with
in Vietnam.
- He dishonored his country.
- He most certainly did.
I served with John Kerry.
John Kerry cannot be trusted.
Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth
is responsible for the content
of this advertisement.
"Boone,
thank you for your support.
"We'd go down any canal with you
any day.
"Swift Boats
and Prisoners of Wars
for the Truth."
Why did you put so much
of your own money
towards making George Bush
president?
I didn't want John Kerry.
It's that simple.
The Swift Boat deal,
I think,
won the election in 2004
for Bush.
He may not feel that way,
but I do.
I think it did make
the difference
in who was president
of the United States in 2004.
And, uh, did I run in there
and say,
"Now this is what
I'd like to have"?
No, I never asked, uh,
President Bush for one thing.
But did George Bush
make decisions
that made you more money
as an oil tycoon?
I can't think of anything he
did that... that made me a dime.
For instance, I tried to get
the natural Gas Act passed.
I'm in the oil
and gas business.
I've been in it
for over 50 years.
And I know
that natural gas is cleaner,
and I was trying
to replace diesel
for heavy-duty trucks,
18-wheelers.
There's only two fuels
that will move that 18-wheeler:
Diesel or natural gas.
The natural gas freed up
is directed
to transportation needs
of the country.
The natural gas is cheaper,
cleaner than gasoline,
and its supplies is plentiful,
and most of all, it's American.
It went to the Senate.
It was an amendment
to the transportation bill,
and we got 51 votes...
45 Democrats
and 6 Republicans.
That was
a real eye-opener to me...
After all the time
I spent with the Republicans,
that I... I was...
I got only six votes.
But I had against me
the Koch brothers.
The Koch brothers
had other reasons
for wanting diesel
instead of natural gas.
So do you think
the Koch brothers'
political activism is based
on their bottom line?
I can't say that for sure.
I think...
I think the Koch brothers
are sincere, uh,
conservative people.
If it fits the bottom line,
fine.
But, you know,
they could turn around today
if they were sitting here
and say, "Well, wait a second."
"If you had gotten natural gas
for heavy-duty trucks,
it would've helped
your bottom line too."
That's true.
It would've helped
my bottom line.
I have a big interest
in a company
that is in that business.
Wait, so you spent
your whole life
writing checks to Republicans
and then you wanted
to get some law passed
and they all voted against it?
- Yes.
- You got it right.
So you're
basically telling me
democracy is not for sale.
In this case, I think
they had a better bidder.
I think the Kochs had... had
more, uh, influence than I did.
Do you think that
your bill didn't pass
because the Koch brothers
outspent you?
I think they had more
influence, and over time,
sure, they outspent me.
The Koch brothers
own Koch Industries,
which does business
in oil and gas.
They've put together
a network of donors
who have pledged
to spend almost $1 billion
in this election.
Their political influence
happens to benefit
the fossil fuel industry,
but they say they're
only in this game
because they don't believe
in big government.
So do they donate for
virtuous, ideological reasons
or because it's good
for their bottom line?
I don't know.
They turned down repeated
requests for an interview.
Clean energy and climate
have got to be more
than an environmental issue.
We think it's a way
for Democrats
to talk about our future.
On the Democratic side,
the biggest donor
is billionaire Tom Steyer,
who's fighting big oil.
Thank you very much.
Steyer is very upfront
about what he wants.
He's an activist,
putting his money to work
to promote his cause.
I'm Tom Steyer.
With bold leadership and an
endless supply of wind and sun,
we can do even more.
Through his PAC,
NextGen,
he pumped $74 million
into the last election
for candidates
who are committed
to addressing climate change.
The goal is 50% clean energy
by 2030.
So what are we waiting for?
So let me just back up and say
the mission was very simple.
I wanted to make a movie
about money in politics,
so I went to OpenSecrets,
and I looked up the list
of mega-donors,
and I wrote to the hundred
biggest mega-donors in America.
And you're at the top
of the list.
You did not go
to the list of mega-donors
and go down the list
according to who gave
the most money.
You went to the list of people
who disclosed the money
they gave.
The big money in politics
is dark money.
It's money that you can't trace
and where it isn't disclosed
and where it shows up in the
political system anonymously.
And that's not me,
and that's probably
not the people who...
The bulk of the people
who you called
who see the system differently
and see a real value
to transparency and awareness.
So you're saying you are
an ideological donor.
- Donor, donor.
- Absolutely. Look.
What we're doing is, we're
trying to work as hard as we can
on behalf of what we think of
as traditional American values.
We have no skin in the game
from the point of view
of our self-interest.
We have skin in the game
because we have a strong belief
about what America stands for
and what we should be doing
as a country.
But we're definitely, uh,
people who are working
as hard as we can
on behalf of values.
So every single Republican
that I interviewed
names you as the bogeyman
on the left.
If the Koch brothers can put
all this money into democracy,
why are they demonized?
Look, the Koch brothers are
acting in their self-interest.
The Koch brothers are acting
with as little transparency
as they can get away with.
We are acting completely
transparently.
We are not acting
in our self-interest.
They are Goliath.
They are much bigger than us.
They are much... they are gonna
spend much more money than us.
They are trying to do something
very deliberate.
And we... what we're doing,
I think, is both transparent,
it is not self-interested,
and we understand,
the only real things
that we have on our side
are truth
and the underlying interests
of the American people,
who are the voters.
So when I think about us
versus the Koch brothers,
I can't imagine something
more different, to be honest.
Why are they spending
all that money?
You'd have to ask them.
I'm sure they were more
than happy to talk to you
because they're
very transparent.
No, they're not.
The Koch brothers
- won't give me an interview.
- Exactly!
They said that they're
spending $1 billion
because it's their free speech
right to give money,
but they won't give me
an interview to explain
why they're giving the money.
The last thing they want
to do is sit down with you,
in front of a Sony camera,
and explain exactly
what they're doing.
They're not gonna do it.
So this is
where our story turns,
from the billionaires who claim
they aren't getting anything
in exchange for their donations
to the corporations,
unions, and advocacy groups,
the so-called
special interests,
that contribute millions
to campaigns
with the sole purpose
of getting something back.
These donors aren't giving
because they love America.
They're contributing because
they have a vested interest
in the decisions that
are made in Washington.
The story of money
in politics
isn't just about individuals
writing checks to politicians.
It's also about
the special interest money
in campaigns and in D.C.
You know, special interests
spend over $3 billion every year
on direct lobbying.
They spend another
$3 to $6 billion every year
on trying to influence
our legislation.
Why do corporations put so
much money into our elections?
Terrific return on investment.
There was one tax break that...
Where a group of corporations
got together
and they got
a 22,000% return
on investment,
comparing their
lobbying expenditures
to the money they got
to pocket afterwards.
You know,
one of the things that
when I think about my...
My donation, uh, if anything,
it could be almost
a stupid decision on my part,
because really,
these large,
individual donations
don't matter.
There is a huge apparatus
made up of money and people
representing large corporations
and other significant
special interest groups
that really drive
what's going on in the country.
So you're telling me you wrote
a $10-million check to Ted Cruz
but you don't have
any influence?
I'm telling you that
my ability to influence
what happens in Washington
is not much different
than someone
writing a $100 check.
What is disconcerting for me is,
as I understand, that
what I'm competing against
is a apparatus set up
in Washington
by large corporations
and special interests
that drive not only
what the legislation
that is passed
in the House and Senate
but, just as importantly,
after a law is passed,
the rules around that law.
That's what really sets
the course of the country.
I think there is the belief
that somehow
the whole system in Washington
is not on the level,
that it's tilted
against the ordinary citizen.
And the reason people have that
view is because they're right.
It is tilted
against the ordinary citizen.
It does favor the rich.
You know, when the bankruptcy
bill was, uh, debated,
the student loan indu... industry
said, "Well, guess what."
"If you're bankrupt,
you still have to pay back
your student loans."
Um, really?
Um, but I understand
why that happened.
The bankruptcy laws
favor the banks.
What a surprise.
The banks had the money,
had the lobbyists...
Very effective,
very talented lobbyists...
Thankfully I was
not one of them...
Who argued in favor
of making the bankruptcy laws
very tough on consumers,
difficult to discharge
completely
your debts and obligations.
Well, that's a perfect example
of how economic power
made a very big difference then
and in an ongoing fashion
to the way our finances work
in this country.
Um, and it's true
every single time
the banks or the insurance
companies want something.
They have power;
They have influence;
They have lobbyists;
They can, in many instances,
determine the outcome
of what happens
here in Washington.
Consumers, for example,
have a much harder time.
A lot of business gives money
to be protected from government.
Big business
doesn't have a party.
Big business gives
to both sides.
Big business
is not gonna give
a whole lot more to one side
than they give
to the other side.
That's just kind of
a big business tree.
In 1997, I was asked
to go to, uh, Washington,
out near Seattle,
to meet with Bill Gates.
The general counsel
of Microsoft
had decided they needed
to hire some lobbyists.
Tom Downey, who is a former
Democrat congressman...
Very, very good guy...
And I, as a Republican,
we were the two guys
that he asked
to come out and meet with Gates.
We're sitting there,
and Gates is, you know,
kind of not real comfortable,
and finally he says
to the lawyer,
whose name also happened
to be Bill,
he said, "Bill, I don't know
why we would want
to spend $600,000 a year
on lobbying."
He said,
"There's not anything I want
the government to do for me."
And his lawyer said,
"Well, y'all want
to answer the question?"
And I said, "Yeah, Bill",
"you don't want the government
to do anything for you,
"but this is about trying
to make sure
the government doesn't
do anything to you."
And there are a lot
of businesses whose idea is,
whether through taxation,
through regulatory policy,
through various and sundry
other government actions,
that they don't want to get
the government after 'em.
And for the most part,
these businesses want to give
and have good people
in public office
because they don't want
to get hurt by the government.
As ironic
as it may sound,
there's a new group
of mega-donors
who throw fundraisers
to raise money
to get money out of politics.
What's going on, man?
And the man
who rejected public financing
is now an advocate
for campaign finance reform.
Hey, yo.
And he's working
alongside
some of the biggest names
in political giving.
I don't want to get
all Freudian on you,
but your last name... people
think of your last name
and they think
of money in politics.
How much money do you
think the Soros family,
altogether, has given
to the political system?
- Uh, I mean, the...
- The biggest numbers
were spent starting in 2004.
I think that was $27 million.
That was the big number.
That was the number
that sort of made
my father's reputation
as a political donor.
The Republicans keep saying,
you know, "How is what
George Soros does"
any different
than what David Koch does?"
So people on the left will
argue that it's different
because George Soros is fighting
for all that's good and right
and David and Charles Koch
are fighting
for their own interests.
What you're hearing is,
like,
they're out to destroy America
for themselves
and they just want
to destroy our environment
so that they can continue
polluting,
and that's the story.
Let's take as an argument
that actually
what they're interested in
is the same thing
as what the people on the left
are interested in,
which is the success
of American society
based on their view
of the way it should be.
If you take that argument,
there is really
no difference.
And what's wrong with that?
Well, what's wrong with that
is that it's a fundamentally
undemocratic way
to affect the outcome.
Right?
Not... it's...
What's wrong with it
is not your... is not your desire,
your belief,
your... your motive;
What's wrong with it
is the... is the method.
So there is a whole new
movement of people
that are coming to this,
"We got to get the influence
of money out of politics"?
There is.
It's a slow-growing movement.
It's slower than we would like.
Right now, the major...
The vast majority of the money
that funds elections
comes from a miniscule fraction
of the American public
that is giving, uh... giving
large checks to Super PACs
but also giving
the large checks to campaigns.
But just because you take
a check from someone
doesn't mean you're
gonna vote their way.
May not be true, right?
Sometimes it will be true.
Maybe... you know,
but even if it's not true,
that perception is now ingrained
in the American public.
They believe that that's true.
Poll after poll shows
that people...
That elected representatives
are more likely
to represent the interests
of their donors
than the ordinary voters.
You have to create
an alternative path
so that a candidate can run
a viable campaign
not going after rich people,
actually getting the money
either, you know,
in a... in a public
financing system,
the way that it worked for 40
years for electing presidents,
from Jimmy Carter
through George W. Bush,
or from ordinary folks
giving small contributions
and maximizing them so that
it actually becomes enough money
to run a campaign, right?
There needs to be a path
for a candidate who says,
"I'm... I'm gonna run
without relying on rich people."
Right, we need our democracy
to be more than an argument
among rich people
who are supporting their...
You know, their own candidates.
Campaign finance reform
has become a major issue.
I heard it while I was still
running Republican campaigns
as recently as last year.
People were asking me
about money in politics,
complaining
about money in politics.
This is not just a liberal
issue or a conservative issue,
but it's also, like,
at the core of what America is.
- We're kind of tired.
- People... the people
are kind of tired of...
Of same old, same old.
Right, Tazzy? Yeah.
- What do we want?
- Democracy.
- When do we want it?
- Now!
- What do we want?
- Democracy.
- When do we want it?
- Now!
What this chart shows
is that 90% of Americans
give no money to politicians
and that 9% of Americans
give $300 million,
the Super PACs
give $600 million,
and the lobbyists give...
I don't know how much that is,
but it's a hell of a lot.
Here in New Hampshire, we've
got a chance to fight back.
We stampeders are doing it
by making our outrage
and our demands known
by rubber-stamping
paper currency.
Why are you doing this?
I'm doing it because, uh,
I don't think it's right
for our country to turn
into something that just
benefits, uh, corporations
and the ultra-wealthy.
You know,
I think a lot of people
have opted out of the system.
I mean, a lot of people
have decided,
"Well, I'm not gonna
participate,
"I'm not gonna vote,
'cause my voice doesn't count."
I think that's kind of
a reasonable, uh, point of view.
I mean, how... how is your voice
supposed to count
when these politicians
have been financed
to the tune of $1 billion,
uh, by, you know,
a... a small, wealthy elite?
Do you think there's
too much money in politics?
It's... it's horrible.
We... we live in a moment in time,
you know,
which is the result, uh,
of, um, Citizens... the ruling
on Citizens United
that I think has literally
undermined our democracy.
The influence and impact
of money and, uh,
therefore, a handful of people,
um, uh, I think, is, um,
immoral, unethical,
and certainly undemo...
Undemocratic.
Um, and I think
it undermines the power
of our political process
and our system.
I hate it.
Do you think
that the system is fair?
No.
It's not fair.
Of course it's not fair.
If you're a freethinker,
uh, and you don't have a lot
of rich friends, forget it.
Uh, you... you can't get
a message out there.
What you want is a level,
even playing field.
And it's not level,
and it's not even today.
If you're very wealthy
in this country,
you have a huge advantage
over... over anybody else.
How much money
do you think you've given
to politicians
over the last 20 years?
I have no idea,
but several million.
Have you stopped
writing checks?
I've stopped writing checks
to anyone
who doesn't support
campaign finance reform.
If they support it,
I'll write a check,
regardless of party.
I think it's the number one
issue facing our country.
What is this?
This is an old Japanese
black pine
that died.
And we designed this sculpture
with a seat up there,
where the kids can sit up there
and watch the boats.
It seems like
you've had some sort
of "come to Jesus"
where you decided
the system is rotten.
Well, the system
is totally corroded.
Thinking that, you know,
companies are people
and allowing anybody
to give anything,
any amount they want,
that's just license
for those with a lot of wealth
to buy whatever
their interests are.
So what's inspired you
to give so much money
over the years?
Hopefully
better government.
And I don't think
I've achieved anything.
You know, it's not a situation
where you have a government
by the people
and for the people.
You have a government
by a few people
for the benefit
of a very few people,
and it's going to take campaign
finance reform to change that.
Can we call this
a democracy?
Of course not.
When you have, you know,
the 1% giving this kind of money
to campaigns,
that's not a democracy.
That's why you've got to have
campaign finance reform,
and that's why there's got to be
public financing
with limits on what a campaign
can, uh, solicit
from individual donors.
So if it's not
a democracy, what is it?
Well, it's a plutocracy.
It's a government
that is organized
and run by a few,
and those few are the ones
who write the biggest checks.
This is the major reason,
right here,
on why I'm really interested
in campaign finance reform.
This is the future right here,
and if we don't
protect the future,
uh, we're gonna be
in serious trouble.
I would love to have him
grow up in a democracy
and not in a country
where every interest is funded
by some kind
of a lobbying firm.
And I hope he never
becomes a lobbyist.
Can you say
"plutocracy"?
"Democracy"?
Which one is it?
As more money
is pouring into our elections
than at any other time
in our nation's history,
it begs the question:
Is this still a nation
of, by, and for the people?
Or have we become a nation
of, by, and for
only the wealthy few?
For the past century,
many brave women and men
have fought
for the right to vote.
But these days, only half
of the eligible voters
in America even turn out.
Whether the donors' influence
is real or just perceived,
their money has clearly damaged
the way Americans feel
about their democracy.
Perhaps if we got the big money
out of politics,
we could get more voters
back in.