campaign finance Flashcards
Two key laws attempted to stop it:
1974 Federal Election Campaign Act
2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
1974 Federal Election Campaign Act
Limits donations to election campaigns to $1000
(individual)/ $5000 (corporate)
Gave public (taxpayer) funding to candidates as long as they accepted a spending limit of $20 million (inflation
adjusted to $103 million in 2020)
Organizations donating over $1000 have to set up a PAC
Political Action Committees?
Organisations set up with the specific purpose of
raising money and donating it to election candidates.
Most PACs are linked to a specific pressure group or
corporation.
FECA 1974 forced organisations (trade unions,
pressure groups, companies) donating more than
$1000 to an election candidate or political party to set
up a PAC and donate via that PAC for transparency
reasons.
Problems with FECA 1974
- Limits money donated to election campaigns (‘hard money’), but not other donations not directly related to campaigns (‘soft money’).
- In 2000, George W. Bush raised so much money, that he
preferred to refuse public funding, so he could spend
unlimited amounts of money.
He did so again in 2004.
In 2008 Obama refused public funding so he could spend
unlimited amounts.
Since 2012 all major candidates have done the same.
In short, the conditional spending limit has become ineffective
summary of FECA
FECA limited donations, but these could be
avoided because it did not limit ‘soft money’.
It limited spending, but only for those accepting
government funding. And if a candidate refuses
government funding, they can spend unlimited
amounts
loopholes
Apart from using these loopholes, there was another way
in which unlimited amounts of money could be spent on
elections, not limited by FECA:
FECA only limited the campaign finance (donations
received and money spent) of the election candidates.
So, a pressure group or individual wanting to donate lots
of money to a candidate was restricted in doing so, and a
candidate became restricted in how much they could
spend.
Instead of donating money to the candidate’s campaign
(regulated by FECA), they can instead spend their money
directly on TV ads supporting the candidate
2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
The 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
wanted to close the several loopholes left open by FECA
1974
Banned organisations (companies, pressure groups, trade
unions) from directly paying for their own TV ads in support of a candidate
Limited spending on ‘soft money’
Force candidates to clearly associate themselves with
their ads (“I’m … and I approve this message”)
limitations of BCRA
The main provision of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign
Reform Act was challenged in the courts:
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 2010
The Supreme Court ruled that banning organisations
from supporting a candidate in TV ads was
unconstitutional.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
2010
The Supreme Court ruled that banning organisations
from paying for their own TV ads supporting a candidate
was unconstitutional.
Basically, the activities of candidates can be regulated, but
speaking out in support of a candidate cannot.
This Supreme Court ruling allowed huge amounts of
money to be spent by SuperPACs
What are SuperPACs?
Citizens United allowed people and organisations to
spend money independently in support of a candidate,
while donations to candidates and spending by candidates
was still limited (FECA 1974). SuperPACs are set up following the Citizens United ruling to be able to spend unlimited amounts of money.
To be able to do so they have to demonstrate they are
fully separate and independent from the candidate’s
campaign or party.
How much do SuperPACs spend? 2022
$1,365,427,889
super opacs speding 2020
$3,427,543,995 total raised by super PACs
$2,128,047,603 total spent by super PACs
super pac for trump
america first - $133,819,980
American Bridge 21st Century $59,719,576 L supports Biden
compared with the UK
The winning party in 2019 spent £16.5 million
Lord Bamford (owner of JCB) donated £2.5 million to the
Conservative Party in 2019, and Lord Sainsbury £8
million to the Liberal Democrats
Donations almost all go directly to the party
Political advertisements on television are illegal (neutrality
requirement) – but they are on social media!
The main law on campaign finance is PPERA 2000
It restricts party campaign spending to £30,000 per
constituency
Donations > £500 are only allowed from ‘permissible
donors’ (anyone on the UK electoral register or registered
organisations and corporations), but no limit
It requires larger donations to be declared.
How much did the 2020 election campaign (presidential
and congress) cost in total in campaign spending?
14.4B - open secrets
