Rebuilding trust: Fixing the rot in our house
The following is an editorial published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on April 5, 2025 by Lonoke County Democrat Corey Spangler.
He serves on the Cabot City Council, as a County Party Chair, and as a member of the Democratic Party of Arkansas’s State Committee.
You can view the full text of the proposed resolution to ban corporate money from the Democratic Party of Arkansas and its candidates here.
JOIN THE CALL TO ACTION & CHECK OUT THE PETITION TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN: https://www.change.org/p/banning-corporate-money-in-arkansas-politics
On January 21, 2010 the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v FEC that corporations and special interests could spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections and unleashed a nightmare on the American electorate. Six days later, in his state of the union address, President Barack Obama said, "With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit in our elections. I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. And I'd urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems." But neither Democrats nor Republicans passed that bill. Now, it appears it is up to us to take responsibility for fixing what politicians refuse to fix.
This year, nearly 15 years to the day that Citizens United was decided - our billionaire president was re-inaugurated, surrounded by his billionaire handlers who quickly went to work dismantling every part of the federal government that displeases them and remaking the federal government for oligarchs like themselves. The disastrous consequences of Citizens United are no longer theoretical - they are now our shared reality. Through the floodgates has broken a deluge of corporate and PAC money that has drowned out the voices of everyday citizens in the working and middle classes. We must end the corrupting influence of money in politics and restore power to the People. That’s a mission for the country at large – and for a Democratic Party wrestling with its message and purpose.
To that end, in my capacity as a member of the Democratic Party of Arkansas State Committee, I have offered a resolution calling for a change to the bylaws of the state party. This change would prohibit candidates, the party itself, and its county parties from accepting contributions from corporations or corporate-tied political action committees. My proposal empowers - and requires - the state party to identify and publish a list of corporate-tied political action committees and to prescribe corrective actions resulting from violations of this rule. I have submitted this resolution to the Democratic Party of Arkansas, in advance of its April 12th state committee meeting.
Fifteen years of unlimited corporate money in politics has led to a Republican Party - once a champion for the rule of law - entirely beholden to the special interests of one man and a rudderless Democratic Party rapidly backsliding into irrelevance. The Democrats let themselves be painted as feckless caretakers of a “woke” status quo, and it is hard to blame people for believing it. The federal minimum wage hasn’t increased in 16 years, income inequality has skyrocketed, and wages adjusted for the cost of living are stagnant at best. What has increased is campaign spending; the election cycle immediately preceding Citizens United saw ~$13m spent in Arkansas. In 2024, that figure was ~$73m.
In the election cycles of 2016 and 2020 the Democratic establishment fought harder against Bernie Sanders than it did against Donald Trump. Because Sanders’s ideas would be detrimental to their donor base, the Democratic establishment of the time rejected or watered down his most universally popular proposals. With our reliance on corporate money, we are not free to lead as we must if we are to rise to this moment in history. And people can tell.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas is in a unique position to lead the way in offering a model for campaign finance accountability. By making this issue fundamental to how we do business, as we rebuild the party, we will ensure that we have the freedom to serve in the best interest of the people. Not only is this the ethical thing to do, this is the politically intelligent thing to do. Dissatisfaction with the status quo led many to stay home this last election cycle, and led others still to gamble on a billionaire and his billionaire cabal. Granted, the President was elected with only a plurality, but Democrats must accept that we have allowed ourselves to become less relatable than Donald Trump and Elon Musk to a large enough chunk of the electorate to lose the election.
By enacting this rule before candidate filing begins for the 2026 cycle, we begin re-establishing trust with Arkansans. Not every voter will agree with all our positions immediately, but they will know we are on their side and not the side of billionaires and corporations. Building a party from the people on up is how Democrats earn their way back to winning elections. More importantly, it is how we Americans start building the country we want to live in.
JOIN THE CALL TO ACTION & CHECK OUT THE PETITION TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN: https://www.change.org/p/banning-corporate-money-in-arkansas-politics
