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Ten Years Worth of Spending on Judicial Campaigns = 4 Months Interest For George Soros

March 19, 2010

Justice at Stake – the political organization funded by hedge fund titan George Soros (net worth $13 billion) – will soon issue a study that says state judicial candidates raised $206 million over the past decade, which is more than double the $83 million raised in the 1990s.  Sounds ominous – until you consider what has happened in other major elections.  Here are a few tidbits, courtesy of the invaluable people at the Center for Responsive Politics and their website opensecrets.org: 

  • In 2008, Barack Obama raised more than $745 million – about $50 million more than George W. Bush and John Kerry raised in 2004 combined.  
  • The $3.16 billion spent on the three presidential elections in this decade (2000, 2004, 2008) is nearly triple the $1.08 billion spent on the three previous elections (1996, 1992, 1998) and nearly double the $1.6 billion spent on the last six presidential elections dating back to 1976.
  • Barack Obama himself spent nearly as much to win the presidency in 2008 as all candidates did in the two presidential elections of the 1990s.
  • In 2008, the average winner of a House seat spent $1.37 million – more than double the amount of the average winner a decade ago ($650,000 in 1998).  
  • The total amount Americans contributed to judicial candidates over the entire last decade represents about 4 months worth of interest on George Soros’ fortune.  That’s not from opensecrets.org – I did the calculation myself; $13 billion at 4.59% interest (current 30-year T-bill rate).

Ramped up spending on judicial elections isn’t “a grave and growing challenge” to our courts, it’s merely mirroring the spending increases in other races.  To put it in perspective, the $5.3 billion Americans contributed to all federal candidates in 2008 represents about one-third of what we’ve spent on bottled water.

Posted by Dan Pero in the categories: Citizens United, Judicial Elections, Justice at Stake

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3 Responses to “Ten Years Worth of Spending on Judicial Campaigns = 4 Months Interest For George Soros”

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