Political Discourse Money Can Buy

Big donor money can buy your pic with Obama.  Wow, the President likes that midnight flier. A witness saw piles of them inside 1200 Washington Street prior to distribution.

According to a study by the non-profit, non-partisan Sunshine Foundation, Beth and Ricky Mason breathe the rarefied air of the top 1% of the top 1% of political campaign donors in the U.S.

On the Sunshine Foundation's list of these 31,385 tippy-top group of donors, Beth and Ricky Mason are the top campaign donors in Hoboken- heaping loot on candidates, parties, PACs.

HOBOKEN's Top 1% of the Top 1% of U.S. Campaign Donors- 2012
MASON, ELIZABETH  $57,500 
MASON, RICHARD G  $43,250  
(private donor)  $36,700 
CORZINE, JON  $33,500 
(private donor)  $33,500
(private donor)   $30,800 
(private donor)   $16,000
(private donor)  $13,514 

WOW. The Masons gave $100,750 in 2012- 3x more than the uber-loaded, former Governor Jon Corzine!

What about 2013?  It's believed the Masons dropped $52K ($46K confirmed) on one race alone for Jersey City's mayor Jeremiah Healy.  And without a third candidate, she'll be dropping loot on Ruben Ramos any day now.

ka-ching!

So if the Mason's $100,750 was sprinkled on candidates, committees and PACs nationwide, what's it done for her here in Hoboken?  Well...

Here's her dilemma.

Beth Mason is stuck at the bottom rung of Hoboken politics; she's a lowly 2nd Ward Councilwoman in a mile-square city.  A million bucks couldn't get her elected mayor.  That's not what she seems to want anyway; her ambition is in proportion to hubby's bulging wallet, we saw this when she pounced on the seat of the barely-dead Lautenberg.  The Senator was still warm when Mason hit the bell like an ebullient Jeopardy contestant: "I'll take Beth Mason for $500, Alex. The answer is: Who will replace the dead guy?"

Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason attends the June 5, 2013 funeral of NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg in New York City.

So how does an extremely unpopular politician try to buy her way out of Hoboken?

One way is by controlling unfavorable discourse. 

The 1% of the 1% are the political gatekeepers of American politics... Their influence is very rarely found in simple favor trading. Rather, their influence arises from something subtler yet far more significant: shaping the limits of acceptable political discourse. 

Here is how Beth Mason appears to have "shaped the acceptable political discourse in Hoboken" by using a strategy GA calls 'Checkbook Bullying.'

Here are some of the kinds of bullying a Checkbook Bully can buy:

1. "Cyber-Bullies" -- anonymous bloggers who attack the discourse of anyone with opposing  views as "bully bloggers", when in fact, their posts include matching insults, hyperbole, rhetoric. Some contain threats, intimidation.  GA filed a complaint at the Newark FBI office last week for a post the special agent agreed was a "veiled death threat."  That is a federal crime.  Oops.  
2. "Courtroom-Bullies' --  political operatives dispatched to drag Reform critics into court with frivolous complaints.   
3. "Discovery Bullies"--  bullies who aim to identify anonymous Reform critics through abuse of the discovery process in improperly filed complaints.
4. "Silence Bullies"-- bullies who abuse litigation (like seasoned political operatives with years of anonymous blogging) to silence political speech and suppress public online discourse (SLAPP)  
5. "Bribery Bullies" -- bullies who write prosecutors big fat checks before they represent an employee (see 'Courtroom Bullies" above) against an online critic (who later becomes a victim of other "Courtroom Bullies"- see above again).

How far will Beth Mason go to buy results against so-called 'bully-bloggers'? THIS FAR.

What makes all this possible?  ka-ching.