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Here’s some good news. Judd Legum has built a new app called “Paid For By.” It lets you upload YouTube videos and TV ads you see in federal election races and get detailed information about the group behind them. You can do the same thing with any political mail you receive. Judd and his team will review all uploads and provide transparency, which is especially important for political mailers because they are notoriously vehicles for scurrilous attacks and attract very little media attention.
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I still remember one from my husband Bob’s long-ago race against Roy Moore for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court: it pictured Bob as a marionette with a very evil-looking Barack Obama pulling the strings. That’s the kind of thing that is the stock in trade of anonymous political operatives running last-minute influence campaigns to influence voters. When Judd and I discussed the app, he explained that one of his motives for doing the project was that “mail is the Wild West, so I’m very curious to see what turns up.”
This is a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about who is trying to influence the elections we vote in, and to help Judd assess what the national picture looks like. It feels important for anyone who is thinking about the coming fight to get dark money out of our politics, and I’m looking forward to this conversation! I hope you’ll join us Thursday morning. Leave your questions for Judd and me in the chat.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
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