campaign finance

• FEC v. Citizens United 2010

  • citizens united is a non-pofit group who funded for a film: "Hillary: The Movie" to persuade voters not to vote for her
  • citizens united thought they found a loophole because it was a movie not a commercial
  • the FEC prohibited the airing of the movie because it violated the BCRA
  • corporations, labor unions, and interest groups are protected by the 1st amendment Free Speech, so the BCRA ban on spending for electioneering communications was unconstitutional
  • consequence of the case: amount of money spent on elections increased as well as super pacs
• super pacs

  • committees that can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, labor unions, interest groups, and individuals, then spend unlimited amounts to advocate for or against political candidates
  • prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates
  • consequence from citizens united case
• mccain feingold act

  • bi-partisan campaign reform act 2002
  • banned soft money and set stricter guidelines on campaign spending
  • prohibited outside groups from spending their money on electioneering campaigns (they couldn't show faces and say names in the commercials and couldn't air them 30 days out from the primaries and 60 days from a general election
  • restricted corporations, labor unions, and interest groups from creating ads on behalf of the candidates
• 527 groups

  • these groups influence how you look at the candidates
  • the group's view of the candidate's stance on their issue is clear and will try to share your opinion of the candidate or party of a specific issue
  • they spend money on commericals, radio ads, websites, etc. to indirectly support a candidates campaign
  • must disclose donor info to IRS
  • loophole for mccain feingold act
• soft money

  • unlimited contributions made to political parties or organizations for activities like voter registration or issue advocacy
  • loophole in FECA
• bundling

  • interest group members mail in checks to the interest groups who then mail them to candidate/campaign
  • loophole in FECA
• issue advocacy

  • promoting a particular position or an issue
  • paid by interest groups or individuals; not candidates themselves
• hard money

  • contributions made directly to a political candidate's campaign
  • limited by legislation
• federal election commission (FEC)

  • gov. independent regulatory agency that would regulate campaign financing
• fat cats

  • wealthy donors
  • could donate unlimited amounts of money to the candidates/campaigns
• federal election campaign act 1974 (FECA)

  • established disclosure requirements: candidates and parties have to report how much has been donated by whom and what they spend their campaign contributions on
  • limited donations: limited how much a candidate can spend their own money on their campaign
  • presidential public funding program: provided partial public funding for presidential candidates and their campaigns who meet certain criteria
• buckley v. valeo 1976

  • after the federal election campaign act was passed, 2 groups of unhappy people were: rich candidates and rich donors
  • they challenged the legislation in the court saying that their 1st amend Free Speech had been violated
  • supreme court ruled that it was unconstitutional to limit a candidate on how much money they spend on their own campaign (money=speech) but it isn't unconstitutional to limit wealthy donors
  • rich candidates became happy
  • unhappy rich donors hired lawyers to go over the FECA and look for loopholes