CCP Chairman Brad Smith has an article in US News and World Report today, entitled Why Super PACs Are Good for Democracy. In the article, Brad explains some of the history and clears up misconceptions about what the organizations can and cannot do:
Super PACs are the result of a pair of two-year-old federal court decisions. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission held that the government cannot prohibit corporations and unions from spending money to support or oppose candidates; SpeechNow.org v. FEC upheld the constitutional right of persons spending money independently of any candidate or party to pool their resources. But even prior to these decisions, a majority of states allowed unlimited corporate independent expenditures in political races, including the six best-governed states in the Union, according to the Pew Charitable Trust and Governing magazine. In fact, there were no federal restrictions on super PACs until 1974.
The article continues:
Others complain that super PACs spend “secret” money. This is just not true. By law, super PACs are required to disclose their donors. There are groups that have never had to disclose their donors, non-profits such as the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, and the NRA. If you want more disclosure, super PACs are a step forward.
Super PACs also increase competition. In 2010 Democratic candidates and party committees outspent Republicans by approximately $200 million, but super PACs offset approximately $100 million of that.
Incumbents don’t like it, but political competition is a good thing. Incumbents usually outspend challengers by better than 3 to 1. Super PACs, which tend to support challengers, have nullified some of this advantage. For example, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon, complains about super PACs, which spent approximately $500,000 against him in 2010. DeFazio nonetheless outspent his opponent by a sizable margin and won. Still, for the first time in years he had to campaign hard for his constituents’ support. That’s a good thing.
The article concludes:
But the best thing about the Citizens United and SpeechNow.org decisions is that they get government out of the business of regulating political speech. Who would say that you can’t spend your own time and money to state your own political beliefs? Vindicating that fundamental First Amendment right is good for democracy.
