“And there is the irony in reading Schumer and McAuliffe’s books back to back. For all the easy political rhetoric about ‘fighting for the middle class’ and ‘the people vs. the powerful,’ the Democrats depend heavily on the financial support of the wealthy, from New York hedge-fund managers to Hollywood producers to tort-shopping trial lawyers. The quid pro quos may not be nearly as naked as among the Republicans, but Bill Clinton did not fund two $100-million-plus campaigns (not to mention a presidential library) with bake sales and tip jars.” In his overview of new memoirs by former DNC head Terry McAuliffe and New York Senator Chuck Schumer, Salon‘s Walter Shapiro reaffirms the importance of campaign finance reform.
Tag: Campaign Finance Reform
A Modest Proposal.
“The first part of the Ackerman-Ayres plan calls on the government to give every voter $50 to donate to candidates running for federal office. The second part will sound almost as crazy, until it sounds brilliant: Make all campaign donations secret, so that nobody — especially political candidates — knows where any citizen’s money is going. Anonymous giving means no quid pro quo.” Salon‘s Farhad Manjoo talks up an overlooked outside-the-box proposal for reforming campaign finance, one made by two Yale professors in 2004. As Manjoo notes, at first I thought, “This will never work.” But the idea kinda grows on you…
Alito’s Way?
“‘The stakes are enormous,’ said Michael E. Toner, a Federal Election Commission member who served on President Bush’s campaign in 2000. ‘We’re watching this case very closely.’” It was upheld 5-4 in 2003…can it withstand Justice Alito? The Roberts Court declares it will take another look at McCain-Feingold in the coming session, and opponents of reform are hoping Alito will help them reopen the floodgates. “Richard L. Hasen, an election law expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the Supreme Court challenge is ‘going to be a prime opportunity for opponents of campaign regulations to make some headway in watering down the standards.’“
Propaganda, all is phony.
Iraq, Abramoff, torture, wiretapping, energy, the economy, Delay, Foley…In a perfect world, of course, the GOP would be dead in the water right now. But, as Bob Dylan famously noted, money doesn’t talk, it swears. And, with a month to go before the election, the GOP are rolling out their dough machine, and the loot is awash over everything. Some system.
Passing the Buckley.
Boo hiss. The Supreme Court decides 6-3 to strike down a Vermont campaign finance law, which was conceived in part as a challenge to Buckley v. Valeo. “The result appears to doom any future efforts to impose spending limits on state or federal campaigns, legal analysts said.” And, in related news, Slate‘s Dahlia Lithwick and Walter Derringer discuss recent Supreme Court decisions, with special attention to the recent capital punishment case, Kansas vs Marsh.
We’re talking about ethics.
Grinding into action, oh, at least 18 months late, the House Ethics Committee begins investigations into Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham, as well as Dem William Jefferson.
Ayes for Ney / Straight Pork Express.
How deep runs the culture of corruption among the GOP? While House Republicans have been sniping at their Senate colleagues of late, most of them have nothing but praise for “dead man walking” Bob Ney. When Ney — despite having four big-name witnesses arrayed against him — recently vowed not to resign his seat, “an overwhelming majority of the members present, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), gave Ney a standing ovation.” And, in related news, The Hill finds that the anti-earmark provision of the recent phantom reform bill is riddled with loopholes big enough to drive a pork-truck through.
Judge Dread.
“These problems are getting worse, not better, and it’s because the judiciary hasn’t taken some simple steps to make them go away.” A Post report finds ethical violations are rampant among several federal judges, usually of the conflict-of-interest or boondoggle variety. “A second set of ethical lapses involves seminars held at resorts by a Montana-based group, the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE). On at least six occasions from 2002 to 2004, federal judges accepted air travel, food and lodging from the libertarian foundation but did not list the gifts on their annual disclosure reports, as required by law, documents and interviews show.”
The 527 Scramble.
By a virtual party-line vote, the House Republicans pass a campaign finance reform bill that caps “527” contributions while raising the limit on coordinated party spending — both measures that greatly advantage the GOP over the Dems in the current campaign finance climate. “Organizations such as Common Cause, Democracy 21 and Public Citizen, past legislative adversaries of the GOP, were allied with Republicans in yesterday’s floor fight. Democrats had the backing of a long list of conservative leaders opposed to regulation, including Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform and Paul M. Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation.” Well, they may have been right for the wrong reasons…still, I gotta say, the party spending aside, I’m actually with the GOP on this one. 527 organizations represent a blatant loophole in the McCain-Feingold act, and some 527 reform is clearly necessary if we’re going to be serious about restricting the influence of money on the electoral system. That so few House Dems voted for principle over their party pocketbooks is, to my mind, deeply troubling (but, so, for that matter, is McCain’s possible side deal to buttress his 2008 war chest.)
System Errors.
“I wouldn’t classify those changes as major…Between charitable events and fundraising events, there will still be lots of ways to get in front of members [of Congress].” Abramoff, Schmabramoff…The lobbying industry remains unperturbed by the GOP reform bill making its way through the Senate. In related news, the Post delves into both the shady use of campaign treasuries by reps in solid seats and the inner workings of MZM’s lobbying-bribery machine. And, under its well-traveled new leader, the House plans to meet for less than 100 days this year to accommodate reps’ need to beg for money full-time.