Yesterday, George Bush's Supreme Court struck a mighty blow for downtrodden multi-millionaire long-term Congressional incumbents everywhere - especially those in economically devastated District's like North Carolina's 8th. In the typical 5-4 decision we've come to expect from this SCOTUS, Justices Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas declared the "Millionaire's Amendment" that seeks to level the playing field in an already millionaire dominated legislature a "violation of the First Amendment."
The title of the article in Hotline sums up the decision perfectly:
"It's A Great Day To Be A Millionaire (Like Most Days, We Guess)"
Cross posted at BlueNC!
As a High School civics teacher who educates my students in rural North Carolina about the Constitution and that we must respect free speech first and foremost, the LAST thing I want to do is infringe on the free speech of my opponent, Representative Robin Hayes. However, I find it hard to believe that he or his supporters' rights have been infringed upon. Even by multi-millionaire standards Robin Hayes is doing pretty well. He is one of the ten richest Members of the entire Congress and has already spent over a million dollars this election cycle alone in his bid to keep 'his' seat. He has also begun airing negative attack ads against me and clearly isn't happy he still trails our campaign by 2-points in the latest polling.
In case you don't know, Robin Hayes owns more stock in BP and Shell than any other Member of the House or Senate and he owns millions more in pharmaceutical stock. There are powerful interests who want to keep him where he is protecting them. I know I don't have to spell out the ramifications of this SCOTUS decision and what a multi-millionaire incumbent will do with he and his campaign on the defensive. I'm going to need your support now more than ever.
We've lost 62,000 jobs in North Carolina's 8th District since Robin Hayes took office. Help me make Robin Hayes understand what it feels like to lose a job.