Democracy & Participation: Campaign/ Campaign Finance

Question 1

What are two examples of the little impact of televised debates?

Answer 1

• Obama v Romney 2012: Romney was coherent and aggressive, and Obama was disengaged and flat. He left many of Romney’s claims unchallenged, and it pushed Romney up in opinion polls
• Trump v Hillary Clinton 2016: She appeared to outperform in all, but it only marginally moved her numbers.
  However… the losers both won the election.

Question 2

How do you define the ‘effectiveness’ of the Electoral Process?

Answer 2

It is successful in producing a desired/intended result.

Question 3

What is soft money?

Answer 3

Money donated to a party rather than candidate, and used for ‘party building activities’. Few limits.

Question 4

What is hard money?

Answer 4

Donations directly to an electoral campaign. Subject to strict limits.

Question 4

How can political parties be funded?

Answer 4

Individuals can send a direct donation of $2800 as well as…
- PACS: Can raise 5,000 donations per campaign
- 527s: Unlimited amount: Call for the election or defeat of a candidate but cannot coordinate with those campaigns.

Question 5

What does PACs stand for?

Answer 5

Political Action Committees

Question 6

What do PACs do?

Answer 6

• A committee that raises a limited amount of money for the purpose of either defeating or electing candidates.
• Set up due to individual limits put on campaign finance.
• Either gives money to candidates they support or money against those they oppose.
• Examples include: NRA, Humane USA

Question 7

What are Super PACs?

Answer 7

• Political committees that make independent expenditures but doesn’t make contributions to candidates.
• Technically known as independent expenditure only committees.
• May solicit or accept unlimited contributions.
• Spend money to achieve their desired objective.

Question 8

What is 527?

Answer 8

• Named after a tax code which exempts them from tax.
• Can raise unlimited amounts of money for political activities.
• Not specifically for or against.

Question 9

What are examples of campaign finance reforms?

Answer 9

• Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) 1971
• Buckley v Valeo 1976
• Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain v Feingold) 2002
• Citizens United v FEC 2010
• McCutcheon v FEC 2014

Question 10

What was the Federal Election Campaign Act 1971?

Answer 10

• Was the first successful attempt to reform campaign finance.
• Required all campaigns to disclose who had donated money and how much they have donated.
• Amended in 1974.

Question 11

What were the reforms of the FECA after Watergate in 1974?

Answer 11

• Established the FEC
• Limited individual contributions. Only contribute to candidates through PACs.

Question 12

What was Buckly v Valeo 1976?

Answer 12

Supreme Court ruled limiting the amount an individual or PAC could spend on a campaign was against 1st Amendment rights.

Question 13

What amendments did Congress make on the FECA in 1979?

Answer 13

• They weakened the law on campaign finance.
• Introduced soft money.

Question 14

What was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 also known as?

Answer 14

McCain- Feingold Law

Question 15

What did the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 do?

Answer 15

• Banned soft money donations to national parties.
• Raised individual contributions per candidate and an aggregate limit.
• Corporations and labour unions are banned from funding issue advertisement.
• No advertisement paid for by corporations and unions for a candidate 60 days before election.
• Stand by candidate must endorse campaign ads.

Question 16

What was Citizens United v FEC 2010?

Answer 16

• Citizens United released a very negative film on Clinton.
• The Supreme Court ruled that McCain-Feingold violated free speech. 5-4 split.
• Now have unlimited caps on soft money.
• Still illegal for them to give money directly to a candidate.
• Resulted in Super PACs.

Question 17

What was McCutcheon v FEC 2014?

Answer 17

Ruled the limit on donations the 2002 McCain-Feingold set on how much you could spend in a 2yr election cycle was unconstitutional.

Question 18

What are the problems with Super PACs?

Answer 18

• Encourages inequality of funding.
• Encourages negative campaigning.
• Encourages excessive influence of major donors.

Question 19

How much did Priorities USA Action raise on behalf of Clinton’s campaign?

Answer 19

• Over $192 million.
• This represented over 90% of all outside group money raised on behalf of her campaign.

Question 20

How much of Clinton’s campaign was sourced by herself?

Answer 20

0.3%

Question 21

What % of Trump’s campaign was sourced by himself in 2016?

Answer 21

23%

Question 22

How much did Rebuilding America Now donate to Trump’s 2016 campaign?

Answer 22

$23 million

Question 23

What PAC donated $23 million to Trump’s campaign?

Answer 23

Rebuilding America Now

Question 24

Why is campaign finance hard to reform?

Answer 24

• Those in power benefit. It could make a President’s re-election more difficult.
• Too many loopholes – groups find ways to work around it.
• PACs, 527s and SUPER PACs all demonstrate that groups will use money to influence elections, one way or another.
• &*Supreme Court rulings on the 1st Amendment** have made it more difficult.
• Constitution is entrenched and difficult to change.
• Lack of consensus on what campaign finance reform would look like.
• &&Lack of bipartisan agreement** – making effective legislation or a constitutional amendment highly unlikely.

Question 25

What are some potential campaign finance reform?

Answer 25

• Small-donor matching funds. (Funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources.)
• Donor declarations more regular rather than quarterly, meaning some campaign donations are not released until after the election.

Question 26

Why did the FECA 1971 fail?

Answer 26

• Loop holes and weakened by the SC and Congress.