As we continue our effort to keep you up-to-date on how money continues to corrupt American government and politics, BillMoyers.com is pleased to publish this daily digest of money and politics news compiled and edited by Adam Smith, communications director of the non-partisan campaign finance reform group, Every Voice.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is running for president:

• He said yesterday, “I don’t believe that the men and women who defended American democracy fought to create a situation where billionaires own the political process. That’s a huge issue.”
• Also: “I wonder in this day and age if any candidate who is not a billionaire or not beholden to billionaires can win.”
• To Wolf Blitzer yesterday, “Frankly, it is vulgar to me that we’re having a war of billionaires.”
• Responding to that other Democatic candidate: @BernieSanders: Thanks @HillaryClinton. Looking forward to debating the big issues: income inequality, climate change & getting big money out of politics.
• Bloomberg asks, “Can Bernie Sanders Duck Super-PACs?”
• Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on his run: “We’re conditioned to believe that the candidate who has the early assent of a handful of executives on Wall Street and in Hollywood and Silicon Valley is the “serious” politician, while the one who is merely the favorite of large numbers of human beings is an irritating novelty act whose only possible goal could be to cut into the numbers of the real players.

And today in the Wall Street Journal: “The 2016 election cycle is seeing an expansion not just of super PAC fundraising but of the PACs’ responsibilities. … It is a big shift from four years ago, when super PACs supported a favored candidate primarily by creating and airing TV ads to attack opponents.”

Campaign Finance/Elections

ThinkProgress: Chief Justice Roberts Accidentally Reveals Everything That’s Wrong With Citizens United In Four Sentences –> Ian Millhister on the Williams-Yulee decision this week: “Yet Roberts also describes judges as if they are special snowflakes who must behave in a neutral and unbiased way that would simply be inappropriate for legislators, governors and presidents.”

LA Times: From Supreme Court, a mixed blessing on campaign finance limits –> Rick Hasen on the decision: “Roberts worries only about public perception in the unique context of judicial elections; Ginsburg’s record makes clear that she worries about perception and reality in all elections. Unlike Roberts, Ginsburg understands that big money has a distorting influence on which candidates win elections, and what they do once they’re in office. When judicial or other candidates accept money from donors or benefit from outside spending, it skews their behavior — and that’s dangerous.”

NYT: When Good News Is No News –> Gail Collins: “But at least it’s constitutional to draw a line for judges at the thank-you letter stage. Whoopee.”

Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Former state justice calls Supreme Court hypocrites on money in politics –> Former Montana Supreme Court Justice James Nelson on the ruling: “In Yulee, they made a big deal of public confidence and the integrity of the judiciary. On the other hand it’s perfectly acceptable for these dark money organizations, these big PACs, to dump millions of dollars into judicial races.”

The Hill: Now’s the time for Obama to stand behind words on political spending –> Public Citizen’s Lisa Gilbert on President Obama and a proposed executive order requiring government contractors to disclose political spending: “The president has been clear and compelling (and in the case of the correspondents’ dinner, also funny) about what he believes is hindering our democracy, and we applaud his commentary. Now, we’re looking to him to stand behind his words and take action.”

The Hill: Dems: Feds have authority to force super-PAC disclosure –> Rep John Yarmuth (D-KY) and several colleagues have introduced a bill that “would force super-PACs and other outside groups to disclose their major donors at the end of television ads. The legislation would require the FCC to update its ‘sponsorship identification’ rules before the 2016 presidential election season.”

Noted voter suppression advocate Hans von Spakovsky is mad that FEC Chair Ann Ravel won’t just sit back and be quiet while leading the agency.

Congress/Admin/2016

Every Voice: Should my hometown be able to enforce a national pro-pepperoni roll agenda? –> I riff on yesterday’s Sunlight/CRP report on the 32,000 donors that make up the 1 percent of 1 percent of big givers. That’s about the population of my hometown in West Virginia.

Washington Post: Where the political 1 percent of the 1 percent live, in 5 maps –> More on the report, with a look at where the donors live. New York Mag.

NYT: Christie Ally Expected to Plead Guilty in George Washington Bridge Lane-Closing Case –> “A former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal.”

Washington Post: Ted Cruz’s twisted logic for missing the Loretta Lynch vote makes no sense –> Sen. Ted Cruz keeps taking heat for skipping the Loretta Lynch vote to go to a fundraiser. “But, owning up to it — and even saying that it was not the best decision in hindsight — is a whole lot better than floating a raft of excuses that make no sense.” POLITICO.

This Mike Luckovich cartoon from last week, with a wealthy man in a top hat telling candidates, “Still deciding. Keep twerking,” is something.

Detroit News: Detroit native Ben Carson takes faith to president bid –> In this profile of Ben Carson: “Since he launched his official exploratory committee in March, it has attracted more than 50,000 donors, Carson said.”

WaPo: Koch brothers make push to court Latinos, alarming many Democrats –> On the Koch-backed effort to woo Latino voters.

POLITICO: Jeb Bush PAC to hire longtime Marco Rubio friend and aide for Hispanic outreach –> “Marco Rubio’s longtime friend and 2010 Senate campaign manager is about to be hired as a Hispanic-outreach adviser for the senator’s likely Republican 2016 rival, Jeb Bush, sources familiar with the decision tell POLITICO.”

Boston Globe: Clinton charity never provided foreign donor data –> “The Clinton Health Access Initiative never submitted information on any foreign donations to State Department lawyers for review during Clinton’s tenure from 2009 to 2013, Maura Daley, the organization’s spokeswoman, acknowledged to the Globe this week. She said the charity deemed it unnecessary, except in one case that she described as an ‘oversight.'”

WSJ: Carly Fiorina Super PAC’s Name Suits Its Mission –> The pro-Carly super PAC is Carly for America.

Huffington Post: How Government Works to Help the Rich and Not You –> Represent.Us has a slick new video on political inequality that “explains how legislative actions taken by politicians in Washington do not reflect the priorities of the broader population, but instead are moved by the opinions of the wealthy elite.”

Former Vice President Al Gore at UC Berkeley: “Democracy has been hacked. Our political system has decayed. It’s an outrage. We are in danger of losing our democracy. We better wake up.”

Bloomberg: IRS May Be Trying to Stop Tax Exemption of Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS –> We’ll see: “The IRS may be trying to block the tax exemption of one of the largest politically active nonprofit groups, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, an organization founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove.”

The Hill: Casinos going all in for 2016 –> It’s not just Adelson: “The $240 billion US gambling industry is looking to bolster its political influence with a national effort to mobilize workers behind its policy agenda heading into the 2016 elections.”

Huffington Post: Congressman Investigated By Feds Now Gets Paid By Feds To Lobby Congress –> My former Congressman, Alan Mollohan: “A congressman who lost re-election amid a Justice Department probe of his financial dealings has resurfaced as a lobbyist on white collar crime issues — getting paid by that same Justice Department.”

Tampa Bay Times: Super PAC emerges to help Patrick Murphy for US Sen. –> Feel like this may be one of the first candidate-specific groups of the cycle (for Congressional races): “A new Super PAC has been formed to help elect US Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, to the US Senate seat now held by Marco Rubio.”

POLITICO: Scarves, BMWs, Admirals Clubs: Congress’ petty cash problem –> “But the truth is, while Schock was by all accounts an extreme case, he is far from the exception. It fact, elected officials routinely tap their campaign accounts to pay for things that appear to have little to do with seeking another term in Congress, according to a POLITICO review of campaign documents.”

Crimson: Harvard Faculty Donate to Democrats by Wide Margin –> “Eighty-four percent of campaign contributions made by a group of 614 Harvard faculty, instructors, and researchers between 2011 and the third quarter of 2014 went to federal Democratic campaigns and political action committees.”

Servicey ➝ RT @Zachary_Cohen: Fun fact: FEC records indicate that neither @FloydMayweather nor @MannyPacquiao has ever given more than $200 to a political campaign.

Other/States

DNAinfo: Sheldon Silver Probe Prompts Wiretaps on New Targets, Sources Say –> Oh man: “Federal investigators have begun wiretapping a new set of potential targets as a result of the probe that led to the indictment of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, DNAinfo has learned.” Who isn’t wearing a wire in Albany right now?

AP: Judge: Legislature must release lawmakers’ calendars –> “In the first ruling of its kind in California, a Sacramento County judge says the state legislature should release the appointment books, meeting schedules and calendars of two lawmakers facing separate federal corruption prosecutions.”

To read more go to everyvoice.org.

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