furtl by Strobe Witherspoon

Author:Strobe Witherspoon [Witherspoon, Strobe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marginal Books
Published: 2013-11-23T06:00:00+00:00

5.2

Susie Mays had been with the DCS for almost three years, but she was no stranger to the furtl corporate compound after taking her new job, typically returning to visit once a week for “coordination updates.” While she had been tracking Manny’s movements for a few weeks, this was the day she planned to finally flag his return to Kurt. Susie was concerned about Kurt’s response, however, for their relationship had soured somewhat in recent months and even bringing up the subject of Manny Kahn’s return to the US made Kurt anxious. So much so that he had Susie update him on his whereabouts every three months even though Manny’s location had not changed in six years. This time around, the update would be arriving a few weeks earlier than scheduled.

Kurt supported Susie’s transition from furtl to the DCS so he could streamline communication between the private sector (i.e. furtl) and the administration. After Manny left the company, the furtl mega PAC, officially named the “For A Better Future Today,” became the largest PAC in American politics, its financial and media resources far outstripping its closest rivals.

Mega PACs were a recent phenomenon. It had taken lobbyists and politicians almost three years to devise an end-around the Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling that super PACs were unconstitutional. Against the loud cries of many corporations, including furtl, and wealthy individuals, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld – in a 5-4 decision – the constitutionality of House of Representatives bill # 24440 (aka Buckwald/Birnbaum, or Citizens Against PACs Act, or the “antiPACt”).

The court took the position that super PACs gave too much political leverage to wealthy individuals and corporations. Their ability to impact elections, the court noted, through “expensive but unaffiliated media campaigns that were frequently negative and inaccurate” had “effectively shut the average person off from the levers of democracy.”

The antiPACt capped single donations of all corporations and persons to less than one million dollars. The mega PACs, in response to this limitation, were designed to pool multiple $999,999.99 donations into one entity without running afoul of the antiPACt. They did this by giving gifts of $1,050,000 to a select number of the poorest 1% of the country, with $999,999.99 of this money to be donated to a “mini” PAC. These mini PACs could then be “supervised” by a single administrative entity. This administrative entity could then pool together hundreds or thousands of $999,999.99 donations for “cross-purposing” activities in support of a single cause or candidate for office. The cross-purposing language was snuck into the antiPACt at the last minute as part of a series of closed-door deals that assured the bill majority support in the House. Thus, mega PACs were born.

The recipients of the $1,050,000 gifts got to keep $50,000.01 for themselves. This typically put them right about at the poverty line.

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