Democratic 2020 Hopefuls Compete on How to Bust Corporate Power

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential contenders are competing to offer the strongest proposals to reduce corporate power in the U.S. through ideas such as restrictions on lobbying and stricter antitrust enforcement.

Several of the candidates were questioned by a crowd at a gathering of progressives Monday in Washington whose demands reflected Democrats' growing appetite to sharply limit corporate influence over workers and government. It's becoming one of the top policy tests facing 2020 hopefuls seeking to capture the nomination to take on President Donald Trump.

"Our government and its institutions have been corrupted and captured by corporations and special interests," former Representative Beto O'Rourke told the audience at the "We The People" forum. "When the question comes, do we believe corporations or do we believe in people, it is people every single time, including those people that are leading public sector unions."

O'Rourke of Texas called for strengthening unions, reversing the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling so PAC money could be banned, and picking judges and administration officials who aren't motivated by corporate interests and reflect the diversity of the U.S.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has led the pack in releasing detailed policy proposals such as taxing wealth and breaking up big tech and companies and agricultural businesses, promised to tackle corporate power by pursuing the largest anti-corruption legislation since Watergate.

“End lobbying as we know it. Stop the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington,” she said. "Rewrite the rules in this economy. And that means more power in the hands of workers. We need to make it easier to unionize and give those unions more power."

‘Big Systemic Changes'

"When we have more power in the hands of our people we can fight back against the power that's concentrated among the wealthy and well-connected," Warren said, insisting that "big systemic changes" are necessary to create "a government that reflects our values." She called on her Democratic rivals to reject PAC money and big fundraisers.

"I'm not out sucking up to a bunch of billionaires hoping that they'll run a super PAC for me," she said, drawing applause from the crowd.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey said he would use the Justice Department to step up antitrust enforcement and "check monopoly power." He proposed bolstering privacy and pro-worker laws, and appointing judges who will support workers' rights.

The Democratic candidates were pushed by the audience to promise to pick judges who will support workers' rights, abortion rights and civil rights — a sign of heightened attention to the judiciary amid Senate Republicans' emphasis on speedily confirming Trump's judicial nominees. Questioners at the meeting also connected workers' needs with combating racism and anti-immigrant sentiments by arguing that blacks and Latinos are disproportionately affected by economic injustices.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said the U.S. is facing another "gilded age" and said she would pursue "modern day trust-busting" in the mold of President Theodore Roosevelt, who worked to enforce antitrust laws against corporations on behalf of labor.

Klobuchar, who is running as a moderate, proposed strengthening the National Labor Relations Board, improving workers' benefits and by "taking on these monopolies" to ensure they don't "squelch" workers or entrepreneurship.

Fee on ‘Mega-Mergers'

She proposed a fee on "mega-mergers" and changing antitrust laws to switch the burden from the government to corporations to prove that a proposed merger doesn't reduce competition.

Senator Bernie Sanders, the runner-up for the 2016 nomination, said a centerpiece of his agenda is to take on "the power of Wall Street" and combat "grotesque levels of wealth inequality in America." One of his ideas was to roll back "tax breaks to billionaires and large private corporations" and require them to pay more.

Warren fired up the crowd of union organizers, immigrant-rights activists, and racial justice advocates by likening the systemic changes sought by progressives to prior social movements in the U.S.

"What do you think they said to the abolitionists? Just too hard, give up now," she told the audience." To the suffragettes? Too hard, give up now. Right? To the early union organizers? Too hard, give up now. To the foot soldiers in the civil rights movement? Too hard, give up now. To the gay rights activists who wanted equal marriage? Too hard, give up now."

"But they didn't give up," she said, to thunderous applause.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

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