In recent weeks, John Edwards has been hit for being supported by outside 527 organizations in Iowa and elsewhere. Leaving aside some of the questions raised in the media about the proximity of the relationship between the 527s and the Edwards campaign, I don't have much of a problem with a candidate utilizing such organizations, particularly when they are friendly ones. Would I rather see such organizations outlawed? Yes. Would I greatly prefer a public financing system that works and a constitutional amendment overturning Buckley v. Valeo, which holds that dollars are constitutionally protected words, in effect? Yes. But in the absence of important changes, I'm in favor of playing the game as best we can so that we can win and not lose. The greater change that we need in this country far outweighs the rigid adherence to process argued by some. It is for this reason, largely, that I haven't found these attacks on Edwards to resonate particularly strongly. Like Paul Krugman, I generally believe that if groups on our side wish to support candidates on our side then that's a good thing.
A more difficult question comes along when a group or an individual with questionable motives comes along to support a 527 backing a particular candidate. This afternoon The Washington Post's Matthew Mosk reports that one of the largest backers of the primary pro-Edwards 527 organization is a corporate entity seemingly controlled by Rachel Lambert Mellon, from whom Edwards has received some $4,600 in contributions. Specifically, Oak Spring Farms LLC, which is reportedly controlled by Rachel Mellon, donated $495,000 to Alliance for a New America.
Now this is not a clear and dry case that raises major red flags, only one that raises some questions. This major donor is not a major progressive player but rather a key figure within the Mellon family, a family that has been among the greatest supporters of the conservative movement in the last 50 years. Yet Rachel Lambert Mellon is not Richard Mellon Scaife, who has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to fight "liberalism," and it's not clear that she has been part of her family's conservative politics. Indeed, before her contributions supporting Edwards, which apparently date back to a $250,000 check to the One America 527, Rachel Lambert Mellon was most closely related politically to Jacqueline Kennedy.
That said, this is Mellon money. And if Edwards is going to run a campaign saying that candidates who take money from big corporations and powerful interests aren't able to bring change while directly and indirectly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from one of the most established and powerful interests around, the Mellon family -- even to fight against that family's interests -- then it's not clear to me that he's meeting his own level of expectations. And if his campaign and supporters say that Edwards' decision to accept public financing is a principled one, but then also say that the DNC and 527 organizations can make up the slack against GOP spending while some of that 527 funding comes from major special interests, then we've got a bit of cognitive dissonance on our hands.
Update [2007-12-28 21:15:20 by Jonathan Singer]: To be clear, Edwards does not have any control over Alliance for a New America, so it's worth noting that Edwards can't physically stop the 527 from taking Mellon money. What's more, Edwards has made clear that he would "prefer that all 527s — not just this one — stay out of Iowa," and later Edwards asked "this group and others not to run the ads." Still, the general sentiment still remains with me that Edwards is benefitting from this Mellon money, even if indirectly, and even though it's not clear that Rachel Lambert Mellon is of the same ilk as others of her family who have been so supportive of efforts to tear down that which we have fought so hard to build up, this story just doesn't sit well with me.
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