Money in politics Flashcards
what do interest groups do? what are they?
- seek to support public officials with MONEY
- focus only on issues that affect their members
- are private organizations
what are the goals of interest groups
- gain access to policy makers
- influence public policy
- support sympathetic policy makers with votes and money
how do lobbyists lobby congressional leaders?
- testify before congress
-provide expertise
-meet with congressional aids
-bring influanencial constituents to DC - provide gifts, and favors to reperesentives.
what is the most effective lobbying technique?
providing expertise (bringing information to congressional leaders, adding small changes to bills)
how do you lobby executive branch
- present point of view to white house aids
-(they have specific staff to talk to lobbyists)
-try to gain access to regulatory agencies in order to influence regulations
how do you lobby the courts
-there is no direct access to courts
-courts are a last resort if interest groups don’t get what they want (file lawsuits or something)
Amicus curiae briefs
“friend of the court breifs” written arguments supporting interest group’s side in a supreme court case
hard money given by PACs is ______________ by law to _______________ per candidate per election
limited to 5000 dollars
PR campaigns
try to bring an issue to the public’s attention
mobilizing your members to contact their reps about an issue that impacts your interest group
grass roots organizing
how do you shape public opinion?
- advertisements
-demonstrations (raise awareness, and express veiwpoints)
how does size affect an interest group
large membership - bigger protests, volunteers, more awareness
small membership- more passion
free riders
big interest groups have more freeriders- people who benefit from the group without actually making a contribution to the effort.
how does intensity affect interest groups?
more passion/intensity = more sucess
____________ interest groups tend to be the most passionate
single issues
astroturfing
making your group look like real grass roots but it’s actually fake
Lots of _________ can compensate for low size/intensity
money
what makes an interest group successful?
size
intensity/passion
financial resources
access to lawmakers
Pluralist theory
interest groups are good for America:
many groups can compete and balance each other out and force compromise
no one group has dominance
HYPER-pluralist theory
Interest groups are BAD
- too many interest groups are trying to influence policy
-politicians try to appease both sides and leads to conflicting policy
POWER ELITE theory
Interest groups are BAD
-policy decisions are made by a small # of super rich groups
-whoever has the money rules
electioneering
interest groups influencing
FECA stand for?
Federal Election Campaign Act
public financing
created system where elections would be funded by the tax payers (free money to campaigns) in exchange for the campaign agreeing to certain rules
what is the FEC?
Federal Elections Commission
-created as kind of a police force for making sure campaigns were following the new rules
FEC responsibilities:
enforce:
-disclose campaign finance info to the public
- enforce limits on contributions
- oversee the new public finance system
Buckely V. Valeo
says:
-congress setting limits on contributions is OK
congress setting limits on expenditures is NOT OK
- 1st amendment says you can spend money
Hard money rules:
-must disclose name and amount of $$
- amount of money you can donate is limited to 2500$ to each candidate per year
Soft money rules:
(donations made to party committees)
- money limit is 30,800
DARK money
donations made to SUPER PACs rather than candidates or parties
Dark money rules:
unlimited anonymous moneys
Bipartisan campaign Reform act / Mccain-feingold
- limits attack ads and close loopholes
-limit/stop big soft money donations
-stand by your ad
-stop non candidate ads 60 days prior to general election
“i’m [insert candidate] and i approve of this ad”
Stand by your ad provision
McConnell V. FEC
-says limiting non candidate ads 60 days before election is a violation of freespeech
Citizen United V. FEC
-BCRA and FECA are unconstitutional
- disclosure of contributions is ok but gov can’t ban individuals/PACSs making expenditures
- Corporations are people
501(c)4
- non profit tax-exempt groups
-doesn’t disclose donors
-super PACs use them to hide their money
SUPER PACs
-can’t coordinate with campaigns
-can spend unlimited amounts of money on their own
-raise unlimited amounts of money from any source
