Campaign Finance Day 8

Money in Elections In 2008 candidates for office, political parties, and independent groups spent $5,300,000,000 Over $1,000,000,000 was spent by the two Presidential candidates (Barack Obama & John McCain) alone In 2010 the average elected member in the House of Representatives spent $1,400,000 and the average elected Senator spent $9,800,000 In every election more and more money seems to be spent. BUT WHY? www.opensecrets.org

Essential Questions What is campaign finance? Who donates to campaigns? What do candidates use the money for? How have campaign finance laws changed over time? Do political contributions give undue influence to donors? Do limits on campaign contributions violate free speech?

Campaign Finance Defined Campaign Finance: All funds raised in order to promote candidates, political parties, or policies in elections, referendums, initiatives, party activities, and party organizations Basically it’s the process by which candidates and political parties raise money to help promote an issue or get a candidate elected.

Where does the money come from? Individual Contributions: Donations to candidates or political parties from individual citizens. As the table below demonstrates, the majority of individual contributions come from a select few individuals who give a large amount. www.opensecrets.org

Where does the money come from? Political Action Committees (PACs): A type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. Super PAC: a type of independent political action committee which may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but is NOT permitted to contribute to or coordinate directly with parties or candidates. 527 and 501c4 Groups: a type of U.S. tax exempt organization created to influence the election or defeat of candidates to office. Before the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United V. The FEC (Federal Elections Commission) these groups could not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a specific candidate, but could only promote an issue. However, after the Supreme Court decision in 2010 these groups can directly advertise on behalf of or against a candidate, but cannot coordinate directly with parties or candidates.

What do candidates use the money for? Campaigns cost a lot of money to run. Everything from hiring people to coordinate and canvass to renting large spaces for rallies, paying to fuel the jet, and T.V. and print advertisements. The costs associated are broken down into 7 categories Media- 29% Fundraising- 21% Salaries- 16% Administrative- 12% Unclassifiable- 8% Strategy & Research- 7% Campaign Expenses- 7% www.opensecrets.org

How have campaign finance regulations changed?

In your notes, either agree or disagree with the following statements. Donors who give a lot of money to candidates are given easier access to policymakers which is an unfair advantage. Money buys influence, and therefore there should be restrictions regarding how much money individuals can give directly to candidates. Corporations should not be allowed to be involved in campaign financing of any kind. Money should not be considered speech. Even though it may be used to purchase advertising, which is a form of speech, we should restrict the rights of groups and individuals to purchase media slots advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate. We should have public (government controlled) funding of all federal elections to keep our government from becoming corrupt.