Free Republic

<p>Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno will launch separate efforts to rewrite state campaign finance laws next year, with Leno proposing restrictions on millionaire candidates and the governor pushing to ban fund-raising for several months every year. On Tuesday, Leno announced he would sponsor campaign finance reform legislation that includes provisions that would have affected Schwarzenegger's recall run this fall. An aide to the governor said Schwarzenegger would announce legislation in January to prohibit fund-raising during state budget negotiations. Both Leno and Schwarzenegger hope to seize on widespread public unhappiness with the perceived influence campaign contributions have on policy decisions in Sacramento.</p>

Courts Without Law Thomas Sowell Lawlessness usually conjures up images of a wild frontier or mobs in the streets. But the painful reality is that the supreme examples of lawlessness in our times are in the august and sedate chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States. If you think the issue in the recent Supreme Court decision upholding campaign finance legislation is whether campaign finance reform is a good idea or a bad idea, then you have already surrendered the far more important and more fundamental idea of Constitutional government. There is nothing in the Constitution of the...

Who Speaks for the People? By Christopher G. Adamo December 15, 2003 We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America. --The United States Constitution-- Upon reading the text of the Preamble to the Constitution, as well as the remainder of that document, certain foundational principles of the American experiment become altogether undeniable. The founders clearly understood...

TV News, Rich People Now Control Political Speech, Analysts Say By Jeff Johnson December 12, 2003 (CNSNews.com) - Broadcast news organizations with a liberal bias and billionaires with potentially hidden political agendas will now control much of the flow of information about federal candidates in the days leading up to elections, according to critics of a Supreme Court decision issued Wednesday. Richard Lessner, executive director of the American Conservative Union, called the restrictions on issue advocacy groups, which don't apply to wealthy individuals, the "dirty little secret" of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) upheld by the court. "If you're...

Caps on Campaign Spending Firmly Entrench Incumbents Print Mail By John R. Lott Jr. http://www.aei.org/news/newsID.19423,filter./news_detail.asp Do publicly financed campaigns help challengers against incumbents? Democrats have claimed so, but the main Democratic presidential candidates are running, not walking, away from public financing. Howard Dean, John Kerry and Wesley Clark look certain to opt out of the system. Their competitiveness against President Bush depends on it. Under the current rules, presidential candidates who accept federal funds will be limited to spending $45 million in the 2004 primaries and $70 million in the general-election campaign. Federal matching funds were offered to presidential candidates...

From the Sac-Bee How campaign law evolved Financing measure may become a 'case study,' scholar says. By Greg Gordon WASHINGTON -- Now that the Supreme Court has upheld most of Congress' controversial overhaul of the federal campaign finance system, historians will likely recognize the 2002 law "as a case study on how to legislate," a congressional scholar says. Unlike a 1974 post-Watergate rewrite of election laws that was eviscerated in court rulings, every provision in last year's law was "based on hearings and findings and research" so it could withstand court scrutiny, said Norman Ornstein. Ornstein should know. He was...

Would you be willing to start a daily thread with this intent? Or conversely, a thread that is bumped to the top regularly? I would help. I have too many responsibilities to commit to hosting it. Lazamataz To get this started my suggetion, Start putting pressure on your local rep. and senator to undo this monstrosity. Everytime you see them, ask them, What are you going to do about this? another idea, let them know that you are cutting back by 1/2 your contribution to them as a protest. Pressure Pressure Pressure!