«JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Brendan, you noted that former President Biden used his farewell address to warn the country of the move, a greater — of the country veering toward an oligarchy. Yet, what did Biden do during his presidency to restrain the influence of money in politics?

BRENDAN FISCHER: Not much. Biden’s statement about the power of the growing oligarchy and the growing tech oligarchy were certainly welcome, and they were accurate, but Biden himself did very little during his administration to limit money’s influence on politics. There were no executive orders to crack down on dark money or require contractors to disclose their political spending.

And one of the most effective or direct things that a president can do to limit money’s influence on politics or to enforce the laws limiting money’s influence on politics is to appoint commissioners to the Federal Election Commission. And the one Democrat that Biden nominated to the Federal Election Commission actually sided with the Republicans in this key advisory opinion that came out last year that allowed super PACs to coordinate with campaigns on certain canvassing and other activities. And it’s that advisory opinion that allowed Elon Musk’s super PAC to take over some central campaign operations from the Trump campaign. It allowed the Trump campaign to outsource key campaign operations to this Musk-funded super PAC, which further amplified Musk’s political influence.

So, Biden’s legacy, in many ways, on money in politics is one of deregulation. You know, it’s on his watch that the FEC has really accelerated this deregulatory turn and has allowed even more money and even more unregulated money to flow into the U.S. political system.»

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/22/citizens_united

Coordinating on canvassing, by itself, doesn’t sound like such a bad thing, but maybe a single person or company or industry group shouldn’t be able to dump a quarter of a billion dollars into a politician’s campaign.