Posted on 04/03/2014 12:22:09 PM PDT by Seizethecarp
Big donors, leaders of political parties and candidates with access to wealthy supporters will be the biggest beneficiaries of the Supreme Court decision issued on Wednesday, a ruling that could fundamentally reshape the political terrain in the 2014 elections and beyond.
Election experts predicted a surge of new money into congressional campaigns and political parties, expanding the world of high-dollar fund-raising now dominated by “super PACs” and big-spending political nonprofit groups.
The decision effectively eradicates a significant campaign finance restriction brought about in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, the cap on the total amount any one person can give to federal candidates and parties in any two-year election cycle.
The ruling opens the door for each party’s establishment to reclaim some power from the super PACs and other independent spending groups that are now playing an outsize role in campaigns. Experts said the decision would permit party leaders to form joint fund-raising committees and solicit multimillion dollar checks on behalf of candidates. The House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, for example, could in theory approach a donor seeking to help Democrats win control of the House of Representatives, and solicit as much as $2.3 million — $5,200 for each Democratic candidate in every House race, plus a contribution to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
...the ruling offers a path for party officials to re-establish themselves as kingmakers.
The decision is also likely to increase pressure on donors: No longer can they fend off elected officials seeking checks by claiming that they have already “maxed out” for the cycle.
“We hate it,” said Manuel Ortiz, a lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. “We were joking around with the partners today: Guess my kids are going to community college.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
On the positive side, maybe Dinesh D’Souza can use this to get the campaign finance charges against him dismissed.
I should think this would hit the bundlers, superpack handlers, and professional go-betweens the worst.
All that donor limitation did was to inconvenience the honest donors and empower the crooks.
Which, I suppose, was the point.
I say anyone should give as much as they want to give but there should be full disclosure for EVERYONE.
Once McCain-Feingold was gutted by the Citizens United decision then Democrats once again trampled the fundamental rights of citizens through the vicious use of the IRS.
This helps Republicans, although Democrats certainly now have a lot of billionaire sugar-daddys, i.e., Zuckerberg, Soros, etc.
Union and corporation money hugely benefiting democrats.
I’m just glad our government is not for sale.
maybe we should eliminate elections altogether and just decide who goes to public office through the process of elimination using the coin toss method. What could be more fair?
“GOP-e gains more financial resources (power) over the grassroots, it seems....”
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I think the effect will be just the opposite. Now donors can give donations DIRECTLY to an UNLIMITED number of individual candidates—up to the maximum allowed for each individual candidate.
If I had unlimited funds, I’d now be in the process of donating the maximum allowed to EVERY Tea Party candidate in the country AT ALL LEVELS.
The hand wringing over this ruling is a hoot. The current system for keeping money out of politics was working so well.
The problem is the type of people that have unlimited funds don't support the Tea Party. In fact they are more likely to give to the GOP-E because their fortune depends on the Status Quo and if there in one thing the GOP-E does well its protect the Status Quo.
Good old NYT. What did Watergate have to do with Campaign Finance Reform?
“The problem is the type of people that have unlimited funds don’t support the Tea Party. In fact they are more likely to give to the GOP-E ...”
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Well, I guess we’ll see how this new Supreme Court ruling is going to shake out. IMHO I don’t think the increase donations will be going in directions that the GOPe would prefer. Time will tell.
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