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Contributions & Limits
FEC frees indy groups to spend in 2010
Published on July 23, 2010 10:55 AM
Category: Contributions & Limits, Disclosure, Independent Speech
The Federal Election Commission signed off on the plans of two independent political groups to spend freely on politics yesterday in a post-Citizens United consensus decision. On a 5-1 vote, the FEC approved two advisory opinions applying the logic of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United and an appellate court decision in SpeechNow.org v. FEC. The Center for Competitive Politics, along with the Institute for Justice, represents SpeechNow.org.
Nominee for the 2010 Inigo Montoya Award, “Campaign Finance Reform” division
Published on July 16, 2010 03:15 PM
Category: Contributions & Limits, Faulty Assumptions, Taxpayer Financed Campaigns
The Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) recently released a report on so-called campaign finance "reform" in Los Angeles, Money and Power in the City of Angels. The report is a look at the "effectiveness of Los Angeles municipal campaign finance reforms" and the authors also "suggest additional reforms to strengthen existing campaign finance laws." Los Angeles already has many of the features of campaign finance "reform" that advocates claim are necessary to ward off corrupti
Contribution limits and voting rights
Published on July 12, 2010
Category: Contributions & Limits
Is it time to ask the question: do low contribution limits run afoul of the Voting Rights Act? Or, put another way, why might they not? First, one might say that the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 and renewed several times since then, secures rights contingent to voting. Campaigns and other political frou-frou aren't "voting." That point might have made sense in the past, but the VRA today has been construed to apply to redistricting and at-large voting, neither of which impede castin
Revisions to DISCLOSE on eve of House vote
Published on June 23, 2010 08:20 PM
Category: Contributions & Limits, Disclosure, Expenditure, First Amendment, Independent Speech, Political Parties, Stand By Your Ad
No fireworks exploded at this afternoon's House Rules Committee hearing on the DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175). First Amendment political rights, though, remain at serious risk of going up in smoke as the majority moves forward with an ill-advised bill to ban a significant amount of political speech that was legal even before Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. After two false starts (one before Memorial Day and the second last week), the Committee adopted a rule that provides for an
Al Greene: Campaign finance reform hero?
Published on June 19, 2010
Category: Contributions & Limits, Other
Over at the Politico's Arena feature, a reader named Art Harman makes a good point: Shouldn't South Carolina congressional candidate Alvin Greene be the poster boy for campaign finance reform? As Harman notes, "he did his best to conform to the liberal ideal of spending no money, raising no PAC money, running no expensive TV ads, and in general refusing to taint himself with the apparent evils of money. And the voters rewarded his frugality and noble refusal to accept mone
Gale forecast to hit campaign finance house of cards in AOR 2010-11
Published on June 16, 2010 03:59 PM
Category: Contributions & Limits, Coordination, Disclosure, Expenditure, Independent Speech
Perkins Coie's Mark Elias (the tall one) has submitted to the FEC an Advisory Opinion Request on behalf of "Commonsense 10." This group, unlike many, wants to be a federal political committee. They just want to behave like none before it, but raising and spending corporate, union and large individual contributions without regard to the limits imposed on committees by federal law. Then, they want to make unlimited independent expenditures in federal elections. "That's
Competition and contribution limits
Published on May 25, 2010 09:12 AM
Category: Contributions & Limits
Several months ago, the Brennan Center went all jiggy over a report, co-authored by Tom Stratmann of the George Mason University Economics Department, that they claimed showed that low contribution limits improved competitiveness in elections and helped challengers. From their editorial in The Hill: But our study found that low contribution limits cut into this advantage and help challengers. With lower contribution limits, incumbents cannot amass the types of war chests that
Van Hollen-Schumer waiting game continues
Published on April 15, 2010
Category: Contributions & Limits, Independent Speech, Jurisprudence & Litigation, Political Committees & 527s, Stand By Your Ad
Campaign finance watchers continue to pore over the scattered signals emanating from anonymous congressional leadership aides as the legislative drafting process of Van Hollen-Schumer continues behind closed doors. Rep. Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Charles Schumer, the chair and former chair of their respective chambers' campaign committees, announced their framework for a Citizens United response in February—Feb. 11 to be specific. Over two months later, the world hasn't ended, corpor
RNC v. FEC: free speech setback or SCOTUS opportunity?
Published on March 26, 2010 04:50 PM
Category: Contributions & Limits, Independent Speech, Jurisprudence & Litigation, Political Parties
A panel of three federal judges denied a request by the Republican National Committee to ease the restrictions on unregulated contributions to national political parties. The ruling is here. This case turned on a procedural issue: the judges viewed themselves as bound by the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. The Court said that "in due course, the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to clarify or refine this aspect of McConnell as the Court see
Unity '08 Lives!
Published on March 18, 2010
Category: Contributions & Limits, Independent Speech, Political Committees & 527s, Political Parties
We're a bit late in finding some time to comment on Unity08, the non-party political party that scored a surprising victory over the Federal Election Commission in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia earlier this month. It is an important case, because, as the Unity08 organizers had found, under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ("McCain-Feingold") it had been made de facto illegal to start a new national political party in the U.S. Unity08 v. FEC
