2. How has campaign finance law evolved in recent decades?
- Share: This American Life
- What did you discover, connect, and question after listening to Take the Money and Run?
- Preview: Role of Money in Elections
- As we go through this history, keep this question in mind...
- If you are a wealthy individual who has a strong desire to support a candidate... How would you have done it before FECA? After FECA? After BCRA? After Citizens United v. FEC?
- Analyze: Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)
- What were the causes of FECA?
- Watergate
- Lack of regulation and transparency in ads
- Can you tell who paid for the 1964 LBJ Daisy ad?
- What were the effects of FECA?
- Creation of Federal Elections Commission (Website) and increased transparency
- Can you tell who paid for the 1984 Reagan Morning in America ad?)
- Public financing for Presidential, but not Congressional, elections
- Groups must form Political Action Committees (PACs) to contribute to candidates
- Limits on contributions by individuals or PACs to candidates, also known as hard money
- Limits on expenditures by candidates
- What did the Supreme Court say about FECA?
- Buckley v. Valeo (1976): Struck down limits on expenditures because spending money = free speech under the 1st Amendment
- Analyze: Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)
- What were the causes of BCRA?
- Rise of soft money
- Rise independent expenditures and issue ads
- Who made this 2000 ad?
- What were the effects of BCRA?
- Ban on soft money; contributions to parties are now hard money
- Ban on independent expenditures by corporations/unions using unlimited money for issue ads 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election
- Stand by your ad: "I approve this message" (i.e. 2004 Bush ad)
- Rise in bundlers (i.e. 2012 bundlers)
- What did the Supreme Court say about BCRA?
- McConnell v. FEC (2003) upheld BCRA
- Citizens United v. FEC (2008) struck down ban on independent expenditures by corporate/union treasuries using unlimited money
- Citizens United v. FEC allowed for creation of Super PACs
- Apply: 2012 Campaign Ads
- Why do we rarely see federal campaign ads in California?
- As you watch these 2012 ads, ask yourself... What type of ad is it? What kind of funding was used?
- Barack Obama Campaign (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- Mitt Romney Campaign (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- Priorities USA (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- Restore Our Future (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- Service Employees International Union (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- Crossroads GPS (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- League of Conservation Voters (OpenSecrets.org profile)
- Create: Oral Arguments
