Campaign Finance Term paper

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There are four important parts to a campaign: the candidate, the issue, the campaign organization and the money to run it. Without the last one the other three will not exist (Janda/Berry/Goldman pg. 164). Politicians need money to keep their careers going. Political money is divided between dollars that are regulated called “hard money” and money that has no restrictions called “soft money”. Soft money is money which, by definition and law, is not supposed to be part of our federal campaign finance system. It is precisely the kind of money which federal law and policy have sought to exclude from national campaigns (Common Cause Soft money pg.1). Senator John McCain from Arizona and Russell D. Feingold, Democrat from Wisconsin have pushed for a ban on “soft money”, money that is given to political campaigns but is not regulated, in presidential campaigns (New York Times September 16,1999). Some people argue that this goes against our constitutional amendments. Soft money does give the wealthier and more powerful the upper hand, but I don’t think there should be a ban on soft money, just a limit or restriction.

In 1971, congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) stating that all campaign contributions had to be reported (Janda/Berry/Goldman pg. 164). The FEC now enforces limits on financial contributions to national campaigns and requires full disclosure of campaign spending (Janda/Berry/Goldman pg. 165). Under these new laws the FEC limited money in presidential primary elections to $10 million but by 1996 the limit was raised to $30.9 million (Janda/Berry/Goldman pg. 165). What caused the big change in the limit on campaign spending from the 70’s to the 90’s, “Soft Money”?

Soft money comes from unions, corporations and wealthy individuals. This money is given indirectly to campaign candidates by promoting televisions ads and other things (New York Times September 15,1999). The money is not handed directly to the politician; it is almost handed to as a gift. For example they will buy commercials, magazine and newspaper space, that is not cheap, to promote the politician or the party they want to win and slander the one they want to lose. The McCain-Feingold bill would ban soft money to parties and extend federal regulations to money raised by independent groups for campaign ads two months before election (New York Times September 15,1999). The argument or discussion that was raised by the corporations and unions that were given this soft money was how could the government tell people what to do with their money. Forty-five Democrats and seven Republicans voted for the bill but it was killed by a filibuster (New York Times September 15,1999). A filibuster is when someone stands up and speaks about a bill that they don’t want passed, this person keeps talking for hours or until the bill they don’t want is dead (Janda/Berry/Goldman p. 213). Engineering this filibuster was the only way to break this majority of 52. A majority of 60 votes is required to stop a filibuster and pass the bill but that didn’t happen (New York Times September 16,1999).

Campaign finance reform has become one of the hot-button issues of campaign 2000 (Boston Herald, September 1999). Most groups are for reform but interest groups and lawmakers that benefit are against reform. Some argue that this ban on soft money is wrong and it violates our First Amendment to freedom of speech (Resource guide; pg.40). Congress tried to pass limits on federal campaign contributions and public funding, in Buckley v. Valeo in 1976, the Supreme Court struck down the limits on citizen expenses as an infringement on the first amendment (Janda/Berry/Goldman pg. 165). The other hand says that soft money is just a form of legalized bribery (New York Times September 16,1999).

Gov. George E. Pataki and New York State Republican Committee raised $6 million in campaign contributions this year (New York Times July 16,1999). This number has more then doubled from last years 2.53 million. (New York Times July 16,1999). Last year a party was held in one of New York’s hotels. It was a fund raiser that raised more then $3 million dollars. This is something politicians do in their...

1. Kenneth Janda/Jeffery M. Berry/Jerry Goldman, The Challenges of Democracy; Houghton Mifflin Co. 1998
2. The New York Times, September 16,1999, Thursday, Late Edition-Final, Section A; Pg. 1; Column 3; National Desk, 968 words, 2 SENATORS REVISE THEIR PLAN TO LIMIT CAMPAIGN FINANCES, by ALISON MITCHELL, WASHINGTON, Sept. 15
3. The New York Times, September 15, 1999, Wednesday, Late Edition-Final, Section A; Page 28; Column 1; Editorial Desk, 878 words, Campaign Finance Tactics
4. Columbia Journalism Review, September/October 1999, Resource guide; Pg. 38, 2497 words, COVERING MONEY AND POLITICS; Getting inside the Issue of Campaign Finance, by PETER OVERBY
5. The New York Times, July 16, 1999, Tuesday, Late Edition-Final, Section A; Page 1; Column 2; Metropolitan Desk, 919 words, Pataki and G.O.P. Report Big Increase In Raising of Funds, by CLIFFORD J. LEVY, ALBANY, July 15 You should cite this paper as follows:

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