CCP
“Using ‘Disclosure’ to Silence Corporate America”
By Joe TrotterUnfortunately, a number of companies wind up capitulating to CPA’s demands, even if the measures lack support from their shareholders. The truth is that CPA doesn’t care about shareholders; they care about advancing a political agenda.It is also unfortunate that, as Mr. Macey points out “The index may acquire an air of legitimacy from its association with a venerable business school,” as the Zicklin Center is part of Wharton Business School. Although the article doesn’t delve into CPA’s relationship with the Zicklin Center, it’s worth noting that CPA’s president, Bruce Freed, sits on the Center’s advisory board, and helped create the ranking.
Independent Groups
Richer Parties, Better Politics? Party-Centered Campaign Finance Laws and American Democracy
By Ray J. La RajaThis essay examines campaign finance through the lens of political parties. It starts with the premise that political parties are key institutions in a democracy. In theory and practice, research shows that political parties have been essential for grooming and disciplining candidates, waging campaigns that inform and mobilize voters, and ultimately organizing government to implement broadly supported policies. To be sure, political parties have a fraught history, rife with examples of monumental corruption and “back-room deals” that serve narrow interests rather than the wider public. But on the whole, the major American political parties have tended to be broad-based entities with mechanisms to hold political elites accountable. Despite shortcomings, their enduring party “brand” and institutionalized roles across all levels of government have promoted stability, collective action, and responsiveness in the American political system.
SCOTUS/Judiciary
Wyoming Liberty: Campaign Finance Laws are the Dirtiest Political Tool
By Steve KleinBut, no matter the latest “reform,” campaign finance laws will continue to serve as an additional tool of dirty politics, not a cure. In fact, because the consequences of violating the law are dire compared to simply losing face or losing an election, we can accurately call campaign finance laws the dirtiest political tool.A case that the United States Supreme Court will discuss in conference on November 1 and possibly decide to hear in court proves the point. In Worley v. Detzner, a group of citizens in Florida sued the Florida Secretary of State over vague and burdensome campaign finance laws that will choke them in red tape if they choose to speak out about a ballot initiative. In their brief for certiorari to the Supreme Court (represented by our friends at Institute for Justice), they argue: “Telling such groups . . . that they may speak only if they decipher and comply with hundreds of pages of campaign-finance rules, regulations, and advisory opinions is, in practical effect, telling them that they may not speak at all.” Sound familiar?
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Mediaite: Dem Rep Blames Racial Discrimination to Explain Alleged Profiting off Campaign Funds
By Noah RothmanKroft noted that she was charging her campaign 18 percent for her personal loan. “That’s what the mafia gets,” he observed.“It isn’t like I’ve really profited,” Napolitano told Kroft. “I still live in the same house. I drive a small car. I am not a billionaire, or a millionaire, for that matter.”When Kroft asked if Napolitano had informed her contributors of this practice, she said that “you don’t go out and publicize that.”
Washington Post: Businesses backed GOP lawmakers who spurned them on default
By Tom Hamburger and Jia Lynn Yang
“Everyone has their own number one issue, and in the Chamber’s membership, again unlike any other association, we have a lot of members with a lot of different number one issues,” Josten said.
Similarly, Scott Talbott, senior vice president for policy at the Financial Services Roundtable, said: “This vote will be a factor in the future before we make contributions, though it will not necessarily determine the outcome.”
The Chamber made the roll call a “key vote,” meaning it will be used to determine future endorsements of candidates. The Club for Growth and Heritage Action did the same from the other side.
Read more…
NY Times: In Clinton Fund-Raising, Expect a Full Embrace
By Amy ChozickThe behavior wasn’t anything unusual for Mr. Clinton, who has always been known as a gregarious party guest. But for some Democratic donors — accustomed to what some see as the aloof indifference of President Obama — experiencing the full embrace of the Clintons in fund-raising mode comes as something of a revelation.Mr. Obama has rewarded his top backers with coveted diplomatic posts like London and Tokyo, but he does not expend much personal energy when it comes to stroking donors: More than a dozen Obama supporters interviewed for this article described the president as an introvert who views big-dollar fund-raising as an unappealing, if necessary, chore. If the situation were a movie, one donor said, it would be titled: “He’s Just Not That Into You.”
The Libertarian Republic: We don’t need money out of politics. We need politics out of money.
By Keith FarrellImagine that you and your fellow neighborhood friends decide to start a leaf raking business to make some extra cash this fall. Across town another group of entrepreneurs begins doing the same thing, only they have some more pricey equipment and they have donated money to the local town council.The town council rules that only leaf raking businesses with proper equipment may operate in the town, thus forfeiting your business to your competitors because you don’t have the capital needed to buy the equipment the town has declared you need. Not deterred, you lobby the town council yourself and you are able to sway them at their next session to loosen regulations. You also lobby to impose a tax on large-scale leaf removal equipment, thus adding expenses to your competitor and raising their costs.The analogy is basic, but the mechanisms of corporatism work the same on any scale. Even a simple matter such as leaf removal will become politicized if government is involved. But what if we removed money from politics, as Mr. Ratigan suggests? Could we perhaps avoid these calamities with regulation?
State and Local
District of Columbia –– Washington Post: Campaign finance reform will get D.C. Council vote next month
By Mike DeBonisThe D.C. Council will vote on a package of campaign finance reforms as soon as early next month, taking a new step in an ethics push that began in the wake of high-profile federal investigations two years ago.A council panel approved a package Tuesday that would restrict the ability of different companies owned by the same people to donate to the same candidate in an attempt to evade contribution limits. The bill also requires more transparency in donation “bundling” — the practice of a single fundraiser aggregating checks from his or her personal or professional network for a candidate’s benefit.
