Campaign Finance: Don’t Confuse Me with the Evidence
Today POLITICO Arena asks:
Is it worrisome that Americans spend on political advocacy – determining who should make and administer the laws – much less than they spend on potato chips, $7.1 billion a year?
My response:
For decades among modern liberals it has been an article of faith — devoid of evidence — that money corrupts politics and that there is too much money in politics — “unconscionable” amounts, we’ve been told, repeatedly. Thus the crusade to restrict and regulate in exquisite detail every aspect of campaign finance, beginning in earnest with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and culminating with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold). Yet after every new restriction along that tortuous course, ever more money has flowed into our political campaigns. But for all that, they’re no more corrupt than they’ve ever been. In fact, the best evidence of the fool’s errand that campaign finance “reform” has been all along is found in comparisons between states with little and states with extensive campaign finance regulations: When it comes to corruption, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the regulated and the unregulated states.
But all those regulations have accomplished two things that should give liberals pause. First, by virtue of their sheer complexity and cost, they pose a serious impediment to those who would challenge incumbents, who already have a major leg up on reelection. And second, because we cannot limit private campaign contributions and expenditures altogether, thanks to the First Amendment, the regulations have led to money being diverted away from candidates and parties and into other, often unknown, hands, over which the candidates and parties have no control — by design. As a result, we see candidates today having to disavow messages underwritten by people who would otherwise, but for the regulations, have given directly to the candidate or the party. But that outcome was absolutely predictable – and was predicted. Two good reasons to end this campaign finance regulation folly and let individuals and organizations contribute and spend as they wish. What are we afraid of, freedom?
Senate Rejects Capping Fannie/Freddie Losses
Yesterday the Senate rejected an amendment by Senators McCain, Shelby and Gregg that would have capped the taxpayer losses on Fannie and Freddie at $200 billion each. The amendment would have also brought Fannie and Freddie onto the Federal budget, forcing the government to admit what most of us already suspect: we’re on the hook for their bad behavior. All Republicans, with the additions of Democrats Feingold and Bayh, voted for the failed amendment. As a substitute, which passed along party lines, Senator Dodd proposed that the Treasury Department would “study” the issue and report back to Congress.
While it was not surprising that Dodd lead the opposition to the McCain amendment (it is not the first time he’s protected Fannie and Freddie), what was surprising was his repeated explanation that the National Association of Realtors and National Association of Home Builders opposed the amendment. With all of Obama’s talk about taking on special interests, I was starting to think the Senate might be serious. But what’s a few $100 billion of taxpayer dollars to insure that real estate agents can get a few more fat commissions.
Even more bizarre was Dodd’s claim that his substitute amendment was a “tough study”. What exactly is so tough about requiring Treasury to do a study that they’ve already said they were going to do. For that matter, what’s so tough about a “study”? The failings of Fannie and Freddie, and their inherent conflicts, have been studied extensively for years. The rejection of the McCain amendment illustrates why we need GSE reform now, as the special interests are already claiming that another study is all we need.
The Empire Strikes Back
The Citizens United decision is barely out, and incumbent members of Congress are vowing to restore restrictions on political speech.
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) said: “In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues to pass legislation restoring as many of the critical restraints on corporate control of our elections as possible.”
In the House of Representatives, Robert Brady, Chairman of the House Administration Committee – the panel responsible for campaign finance regulations – sent out an email that said: “I will be working directly with my colleagues, the Leadership and the White House to study the Court’s decision and to put together a timeline for legislative action that ensures the Court’s decision will not define the ways elections are conducted in 2010.”
It is difficult to see how Feingold, Brady and other members of Congress will be able to get around the clear and certain language of the Citizens United decision. But they will try. Nothing worries members more than free and critical speech, especially when the upcoming election already looks really bad for incumbents.
A Preliminary Assessment of PATRIOT Reform Bills
Hearings were held on both sides of the Hill last week to consider a trio of surveillance powers set to expire under PATRIOT Act sunset rules. But the stage is set for a much broader fight over the sweeping expansion of search and surveillance authority seen over the past eight years; the chairmen of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees have announced their intention to use the occasion to revisit the entire edifice of post-9/11 surveillance law. Two major reform bills have already been introduced: Sen. Russ Feingold’s JUSTICE Act and Sen. Patrick Leahy’s USA PATRIOT Sunset Extension Act. Both would preserve the core of most of the new intelligence tools while strengthening oversight and introducing more robust checks against abuse or overreach. The JUSTICE Act, however, is both significantly broader in scope and frequently establishes more stringent and precisely crafted civil liberties safeguards. Most observers expect the Leahy bill to provide the basis for the legislation ultimately reported out of Judiciary, the central question being how much of JUSTICE will be incorporated into that legislation during markup later this week. While the surveillance authorities and oversight measures covered in each bill are varied and complex, it’s worth examining the differences in some detail.
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