Free Republic

The Supreme Court surprised many people December 10, upholding the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's restrictions on soft money and sham issue ads. The federal campaign landscape has been transformed. But what does it mean for state judicial races? Eyes on Justice asked some experts. The statute "regulates not only federal elections and federal parties and candidates, says Professor Roy Schotland at the Georgetown University Law Center, "but also state and local parties and candidates who are running at the same time as any federal candidate. The statutory provisions on 'federal election activity' will be getting much attention." "The immediate upshot...

What's next for campaign finance? More than a month has passed since the Supreme Court handed down its decision narrowing First Amendment protections for underwriting free speech. What now? The partisans of more restrictions on money in elections are trying to build momentum for their agenda. What should conservatives do? Start by putting principle over politics. Too many Republicans and conservatives were seduced into voting for McCain-Feingold by the political benefits of banning soft money. It's not hard to see why. The Democrats turned out to be pretty skilled at raising soft money; once it was banned, the Republicans' big...

Summary: "Soft money" means money spent by non-establishment organizations; "hard money" means money spent by established organizations (CNN, The Washington Post, etc.) The unacknowledged principle behind the recently passed House of Representatives "campaign finance reform" bill: Established media giants (CBS, ABC, New York Times) have a constitutional right to be free of restrictions on what they air or publish. (This of course is correct). Non-established, or less established, media people/organizations/individuals have no such constitutional right to promote the candidates, policies, and ideas they desire. The money these entities spend is called "soft money" and "soft money" is bad. Therefore, "soft...

ARLINGTON, Va. – The head of the National Rifle Association has thrown down the gauntlet to the enemies of free speech who wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance "reform" law: We will not shut up. Repeatedly bringing attendees at an annual gathering of conservatives to their feet, NRA’s legendary CEO, Wayne LaPierre, said his members would soon launch a 24-hour news service where "we will say anything we want to say about any politician, right up to Election Day." This is aimed at getting around the Wellstone provision of McCain-Feingold, which bans outside groups from advertising for or against any candidate...

Supreme Court's Gag Rule on Us 'The Powerful Have Only Gotten More Powerful' n covering the Supreme Court's historic cutting down of the First Amendment right of individual Americans who belong to independent organizations to get their views expressed, the press has greatly underestimated the effect of the court's banning these groups' television and radio ads close to federal primaries and general elections. The rule now is that these ads on social and political issues cannot be on the air within 30 days of a primary or 60 days before a general election. The law will be violated, says the...

1867: Naval Appropriations BillThe first federal attempt to regulate campaign finance · Prohibited officers and employees of the government from soliciting money from naval yardworkers 1883: Civil Service Reform ActExtended the above rule to all federal civil service workers · Previously, government workers were expected to make campaign contributions in order to keep their jobs. 1905: Teddy Roosevelt's Message to CongressPresident Theodore Roosevelt proposed that "(a)ll contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law." The proposal, however, included no restrictions on campaign contributions from the people who owned and ran corporations....

With Connecticut voters inundated by tales of free hot tubs and buried treasure for top state officials, some Democratic lawmakers are proclaiming the 2004 legislative session the year of ethics. The thinking is that Republicans can't oppose reforms and survive at the ballot box this November, so last week, the legislature's Government Administration Elections Committee raised a series of bills that would plug the legal holes exposed by Gov. John G. Rowland's errant ways. These bits of legislation (such as tougher fines, and protection for the Ethics Commission from budget-slashing) should pass with little opposition. But tucked at the foot...

It was just another patronizing softball interview on the local Clear Channel station by the nearly forgettable host, but something made me stay tuned in. Though I wanted something more substantive I held off on slipping in a favorite Bob Dylan CD. The familiar double-tongued babble of a seasoned career politician came across the airwaves. His mutterings were made all the more difficult to hear because of the constant glutial smooching the interviewer engaged in at every lull. The subject of the interview was trying to make his Senate bill, The Incumbent Protection Act, sound necessary in order to ‘clean...

Faulty Assumptions and Undemocratic Consequences -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Summary Efforts to limit political contributions and spending are extremely popular. Yet there is no serious evidence that campaign finance regulation has achieved or will achieve its goals of reducing the influence of money, opening up the political system, and lowering the cost of campaigns. Indeed, since the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, spending has risen sharply, the number of political action committees and the amount of PAC spending are up, and incumbents have increased both their reelection rate and the rate at which they outspend their challengers. Efforts to...

<p>JUNEAU -- Backers of an initiative to reform state campaign finance laws did not get enough signatures to get the measure on this year's ballot.</p> <p>Organizers are confident that enough names will be gathered to allow a vote in 2006.</p>

First Amendment Treats for the Rich The Media Blew This One Big-Time [The] Supreme Court . . . upholding the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law . . . is cause for celebration. —New York Times lead editorial, "A Campaign Finance Triumph," December 11 [The] decision will do far more to restrict political speech than to curtail the influence of money on politics. —Anthony Romero, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union, The New York Sun, December 11 [The law] cuts to the heart of what the First Amendment is meant to protect: the right to criticize the government. Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting,...

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded tax-exempt organizations that their public advocacy activity must adhere to tax rules as well as campaign-finance laws. On the eve of an election year, the IRS has issued Revenue Ruling 2004-6 concerning certain public advocacy activities conducted by social welfare organizations, unions and trade associations. Under the Internal Revenue Code, social welfare organizations, unions and trade associations generally are permitted to engage in advocacy or lobbying related to their exempt purposes. However, they may engage in only limited political campaign activity. The guidance clarifies the tax implications of advocacy that meets the...

BROOKFIELD - The state Elections Board voted 5-4 Wednesday to study implementing rules in Wisconsin that would mirror federal restrictions on political ads criticizing a candidate. Executive director Kevin Kennedy said the vote is no guarantee the board will eventually implement rules that would give it the power to regulate so-called issue ads. But he said board members felt it was appropriate to study the issue after several groups urged them to do so in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the restrictions on the ads in federal campaigns. ‘‘We’re going to at least go through the...

Nevada Senator John Ensign says he has changed his mind over the years about campaign finance reform. He says he now favors ending all limits on campaign contributions as long as the giving is reported and the contributor identified. Ensign says the problem with money and politics is that people find out ways to get around the law. He says he wants to remove all limits on contributions but make all of them reportable. In his words, "If you want to give one million-dollars to somebody, you give one million-dollars and they have to report it." Ensign says he takes...

If You Think Campaign Finance "Reform" Offends the First Amendment, Join This Effort In my opinion, which I stated in a brief to the Supreme Court in the CFR case, the Court's 5-4 decision was dead wrong to allow Congress to tell citizens organizations they may not broadcast ads that name candidates and attack or support their positions 30 days before primaries, or 60 days before general elections. The most important point of freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the First Amendment is to GUARANTEE THE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT. Remember that the Framers of our...

<p>Rescuing an enfeebled presidential election funding system before 2008 by enlarging the pot of matching funds for primaries and giving the money to candidates earlier is emerging as the next goal of finance reformers.</p> <p>Fresh off a victory this month in the Supreme Court, the lawmakers who wrote the new limits on campaign donations and restrictions in place for the 2004 elections see an urgent need in shoring up the system for providing government money to campaigns.</p>

Once Thriving K Street—Now A Ghost Town, Where All The Lobbyists Have Long Since Sought Honest Work By Whitglove Perisher, OBE WASHINGTON, December 26 –Since the 2002 passage of the McCain-Feingold/Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform Bill, Washington is a different city, a sadder city, but a much more honest city. According to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), “If you’re rich or represent a wealthy company or organization, well, we won’t even listen to you. It’s the law.” Congress once gauged everything according to fundraising and the election cycle, but no more. There’s no longer any need to pander to potential...

Like businesses and unions, the wealthy can no longer make big donations to the national parties. But well-heeled givers do have a special chance to influence elections through last-minute ads. An exemption in the new campaign finance law lets individual donors give unlimited amounts to certain tax-exempt, unincorporated groups to pay for TV and radio ads targeting candidates just before elections. Large Democratic donors have already donated or pledged $10 million to a new group called the Media Fund formed by former Clinton White House official Harold Ickes to air ads next year against President Bush. "I think we fully...

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has asked for written arguments and responses from both sides in a case that accuses federal election officials of opening loopholes in the new campaign finance law. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, moving the case forward after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld most of the new regulations, ordered written arguments by Feb. 27 and responses to opponents' claims by March 31. At issue are the case's merits and whether the two lawmakers suing the Federal Election Commission Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass. — have legal standing to challenge the commission's...

As election year 2004 heats up, state political parties may have to raise more cash than ever to finance campaigns as they operate under the new campaign finance reforms passed by Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the sweeping McCain-Feingold reforms that ban unlimited "soft money" contributions to national political parties and restrict issue ads in the weeks leading up to elections. The reforms were designed to lessen the influence of big money on elections. Prior to the law's passage, wealthy corporations, unions and individuals were able to direct large contributions to political parties and avoid the limits that...