In the News
Event: “The Future of the Federal Election Commission”
Panel features CCP Chairman Brad Smith and Senior Fellow Eric Wang.
Huffington Post Live: Making Corporations Disclose Political Donations
Featuring CCP President David Keating.
Cato Institute: Move to Defend The Case against the Constitutional Amendments Seeking to Overturn Citizens United
By John SamplesThree years ago the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. It found that Congress lacked the power to prohibit independent spending on electoral speech by corporations. A later lower-court decision, SpeechNow v. Federal Election Commission, applied Citizens United to such spending and related fundraising by individuals. Concerns about the putative political and electoral consequences of the Citizens United decision have fostered several proposals to amend the Constitution. Most simply propose giving Congress unchecked new power over spending on political speech, power that will be certainly abused. The old and new public purposes cited for restricting political spending and speech (preventing corruption, restoring equality, and others) are not persuasive in general and do not justify the breadth of power granted under these amendments.
Washington Post: Why don’t Americans care more about campaign finance reform?
By Juliet Eilperin and Scott Clement…But Bradley Smith, who served as the FEC’s chair a decade after Potter and now chairs the Center for Competitive Politics, said the expiration of commissioners’ terms is not “an emergency” since they can serve past their end dates without any penalty.“It’s not like that is interfering with the commission’s function,” said Smith, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and favors further deregulation of the campaign finance system. “The real question is to what extent should the government regulate political campaigns and political speech. There is a recognition that money is important in the political system, and it’s important for speech.”…
Candidates, Politicians and Parties
Washington Post: Obama’s campaign finance reform plans have faded
Washington Post: Obama’s campaign finance reform plans have faded
By Juliet EilperinPresident Obama’s once-broad ambitions to clamp down on the influence of special interests have been largely abandoned since his reelection, dismaying longtime allies in the campaign-finance reform movement.
Lobbying and Ethics
Roll Call: Ethics Group CREW Bails on Lobbying Efforts
By Kent CooperIn 2012, the organization spent $75,200 lobbying the White House on Federal Election Commission reform and advocating for an executive order that would require bidders on federal contracts to disclose their political contributions; the Securities and Exchange Commission on rule making to regulate corporate political spending by publicly-held corporations; the Federal Election Commission to advocate for text-based campaign contributions; and the Federal Communications Commission to advocate for new rules requiring TV stations to publish information online about political ads.
FEC
Bloomberg: FEC Expired Terms Prompt Calls for Obama to Keep Promise
By Jonathan D. SalantFederal Election Commissioner Caroline Hunter’s term expires today, which means all of the commission members are now serving on borrowed time.
State and Local
New York –– Press Connect: N.Y. campaign finance debate grows
New York –– Press Connect: N.Y. campaign finance debate grows
By Jon CampbellALBANY — Using public money to help fund political campaigns is either a bona fide way to bolster the influence of small donors or a serious waste of taxpayer dollars, depending on whom you speak to at the state Capitol and which party they belong to.
Virginia –– Washington Post: FBI looking into relationship between McDonnells, donor
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Jerry MarkonNow, federal officials are trying to determine whether to expand that investigation into a broader look at whether McDonnell or his administration took any action to benefit Star Scientific in exchange for monetary or other benefits, according to the four people familiar with the interviews. It is unclear whether the probe will be broadened.
