The Dark Money Game

Bravo seven to the accident.

At 6:00 PM...

Machiavelli was a softie.

His writings offer a step-by-step plan for the political game...

with instruments like deception, hardheartedness, and crime.

His lessons have been analyzed to death by many politicians, myself included.

But I always thought that exiled political adviser was a softie.

I worked in politics in Ohio for almost 40 years.

I heard about bribes, crimes...

personal scandals at the top of the Ohio government.

Some of the state's most beloved officials.

In fact, I knew how to keep their secrets.

Until the FBI decided to end my career.

News flash about the biggest bribery case in Ohio history.

Five men are charged with racketeering.

It involves 61 million dollars in hush money.

The accusation was that money was funneled into a dark money corporation.

Dark money. - Dark money. Secret money.

A non-profit dark money group. - There is clearly a corrupt culture.

Corrupt through and through.

I no longer feel the need to keep people's secrets.

Now that that burden has lifted off me, it's time to talk.

And talk I will.

A Sicilian never forgets.

I am Neil Clark. I am a lobbyist.

Neil Clark's body was found in a field near his home in Bonita Springs, Florida.

He died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Was it murder?

According to the police, it was suicide.

Suicide is always a mystery.

Why does someone take their own life?

The clues to this mystery created more questions than answers.

Why was he wearing a campaign T-shirt for Mike DeWine, the Governor of Ohio?

And what did he leave behind, except for his grieving family?

His obituary featured a photo of a poor kid from a rough neighborhood.

He grew up to be a generous family man...

who in his spare time made mosaics out of broken glass.

BEATS ME. I'M JUST A LOBBYIST NEIL S. CLARK

His autobiography told a different story.

He had ugly nicknames.

'Godfather', 'Prince of Darkness', 'Asshole'.

'I was willing to go to extremes, bend rules, cheat...

and ensure that anyone who stood in my way was severely punished.

I never looked back, I always kept going.'

I heard his voice on wiretaps and bugs.

Every politician has a hitman. Everyone needs someone who...

handles the dirty work.

But then I found a series of late-night, unfiltered video diaries.

Hello, today is July 26, 2020. My name is Neil Clark.

The purpose of these videos...

is to shed a different light on certain events in my life.

I won't try to justify every aspect of my life.

I will describe how I saw those events unfold.

Every facet of Clark was different.

Was there a way to make sense of it all?

What was he trying to tell us from beyond the grave?

Did the scandal that led to Clark's suicide...

fit into a new kind of corruption in American politics?

As a lobbyist, Clark made his living trading favors.

But had he perhaps become confused about what was legal and what wasn't?

In 2010, the Supreme Court made a ruling called Citizens United...

which granted money free access to American politics.

Fifteen years later, interest groups could pool billions into secret funds...

to thwart democracy.

In Ohio, lured by the call of dark money...

Clark became entangled in a web of religion, hush money, and political corruption.

The day I arrived in Ohio to follow Clark's story...

there was a demonstration at the Capitol for abortion rights.

Whose house? - Our house.

Whose house? - Our house.

Whose house? - Our house.

Whose house? - Our house.

Over 60 percent of voters in Ohio...

believe abortion should mostly be legal.

But today they are frustrated because the lawmakers in Ohio aren't listening.

In fact, they passed just about the strictest anti-abortion law in the country.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, those who sit in this chamber are your servants and have the task...

of governing the citizens of the great state of Ohio.

I ask, Lord...

The Republicans pay little attention to the shouts of the protesters.

Through gerrymandering, the Republicans, who are anti-abortion...

hold 68 percent of the seats in the chamber.

Far more than their share of the votes.

Amen.

Today we are talking about abortion.

This government is currently considered the most corrupt in the country.

This body has done nothing to restore the trust of citizens...

after the biggest bribery scandal ever in this state.

This body refuses to abide by the Supreme Court...

which ordered us to draw maps for the citizens and not for politicians.

That is not democracy.

With their massive piles of campaign cash from dark money donors...

the anti-abortion group was laughing.

Like a team that knows the game is rigged.

Here is what is happening in Ohio...

The money is pouring in...

and private interests are taking over Ohio politics.

These are not ordinary rights, friends. These are rights given to us...

not by this government, but by the God who created us.

It's becoming a sort of entrenched, corrupt supermajority in government.

One person, one vote.

One person, one vote.

Shame on you all.

And the citizens have no recourse.

One person, one vote.

Watching the protesters by the legislative chamber...

I wondered why the anti-abortion movement had so much money...

and how that money had broken majority rule.

One person, one vote.

Matthew wrote in the Bible that you cannot serve God and money at the same time.

But in Ohio, the Republican Party found a way to do it anyway.

Let us in.

The question is, how?

Let us in.

I grew up in Ohio. I was always interested...

in the law and society...

and the impact of various forces on society.

When I was in the eighth grade, I think, we were talking about taxes.

A girl said, 'You shouldn't have to pay taxes for schools...

if you don't have a child in school.'

I replied, 'Everyone benefits from an educated population.'

And my teacher said, 'You should become a lawyer.' And so...

I became Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.

I held that position for 12 years.

I am a registered Republican, but I am not a Republican judge.

I always say, 'If you bring politics into the courtroom, you don't belong there.'

but as Mitchell spins around...

In Ohio, there is no voting majority.

When they say, 'All Ohio residents are Republicans,' that isn't true.

Ohio was considered a purple state...

but leaning slightly red.

But after Citizens United, everything changed quickly.

For starters: a Supreme Court ruling...

that thoroughly changes the funding of political campaigns.

The Citizens United case came before the Supreme Court...

in January 2010 and ruled that corporations have the right...

to donate unlimited money to American politics.

For the first time in many decades, corporations and unions can...

unlimited resources that will influence the political process...

in a way that will destroy our campaign finance laws.

There is no evidence whatsoever that participation by corporations and unions...

ever had a corrupting effect on our democracy.

I was heavily involved in Citizens United.

I brought it before the Supreme Court and got it accepted.

We naturally relied on the First Amendment.

If you limit what people can spend on speech, you limit speech.

If I have money, I can express my opinion and buy an ad.

If a corporation has money, it can express its opinion and buy an ad.

Essentially, the economic elite were now allowed...

for the first time, to spend as much money as they wanted.

Hundreds of millions of dollars.

As long as they didn't give the money directly to the candidate...

which would be bribery, so they set up supposedly independent organizations.

Those were the super PACs.

PRIORITIES USA ACTION - MAKE A DONATION

Political organizations, the super PACs...

became major secret funds for elections.

CNN - CAMPAIGN CHAMPIONS

In 90 percent of U.S. congressional elections...

the candidate who spent the most money won.

The Republican Party was very smart. They realized that...

now that they could spend unlimited money...

they could take over state legislatures on the cheap.

These are really cheap campaigns. And we saw that happen in Ohio in 2010.

POLITICAL TV AD

2010 was the ideal time. It was a census year.

That year, the state legislative districts...

and voting districts were redrawn by whoever was in power.

EXISTING MAP

When districts are redrawn, the ruling party determines their shape.

The goal is packing and cracking.

Pack as many opponents as possible into a few districts.

Crack all other districts into weird shapes, not geographically...

but according to political preference.

That is called 'gerrymandering'.

Gerrymandering has always resulted in...

irregularly shaped districts.

There was one jokingly called 'The Snake on the Lake'.

OHIO VS DISTRICT 9

There was no logic to it, other than it being about gerrymandering.

These districts were...

redrawn in a very unfair way.

They made it almost impossible for themselves to lose.

OHIO HOUSE DISTRICT 95

With districts absurdly drawn along political party lines...

politicians focus solely on winning the primaries.

They have no reason to concern themselves with the public interest.

They win by leaning into extremes and stoking anger over current cultural issues.

DISPATCH OHIO'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER

When I started as a politics and legislative reporter, the government...

had the informal term the 'Caveman Caucus'.

That was a small group of lawmakers who were very conservative.

They wanted things like...

concealed carry without a permit, a total ban on abortion.

Over time, that group...

was no longer a small subgroup of the Republican caucus.

It became the majority of that caucus.

When extremists won in Ohio, they caught the attention of major donors...

who heavily sponsored their campaigns.