Campaign Finance
Campaign finance reform has already become
an issue for debate in this election
year's primaries. This matter does not
hold a large amount of interest for the
average American, it is not an issue
that is going to sway a large amount of
voters. The book examines all facets
of campaign finance including sources of
contributions and finance reform.
The book then takes a close, hard look at the
1980 presidential election
and the 1982 congressional races. The author
approaches the subject matter in
a very thorough and systematic method. He makes
very insightful comments on
the state of campaign finance in the early 1980's
which are still relevant in
this election year because this issue has been an
important facet of the
primary debates. The book discusses the history of
campaign reform from its
beginnings in the early 20th century. The book touches
on the theoretical
aspects of election campaign finance, but is more a study of
hard data and
facts, the history of campaign spending in a few different periods
and the
actual evolution and cash explosion that now creates a truly
national
spectacle. Alexander begins the book describing why such large
amounts of
political campaign money is needed. "Since the Republic's
founding,
printing has been the most basic campaign expense." (Alexander,
5).
Alexander explains that printed reading materials including
pamphlets, flyers,
mailings and placards represent a huge chunk of the cost
of running for office.
The evolution of campaigning has drastically
changed the landscape. Extensive
and intense media coverage has increased the
need for a politician to be always
prepared for a direct examination by a
journalist. Alexander notes that the
largest increase in campaign spending
began in the 1950's, with the introduction
of television and the advent of
the commercial. Between the 1948 and the 1952
elections, enough Americans had
bought television sets that the candidates in
the 1952 election began to
invest in TV air time. Radio had become important in
the 1924 election, but
this medium did not require the same large amounts of
cash that television
did (Alexander, 10). Campaign finance reform has been an
issue that has been
mumbled about and tossed around for almost a century,
however the movement
did not have any significant backers until the 1960's. The
first mention for
reform was made by Theodore Roosevelt. His idea was to simply
disclose where
and how candidates got there cash to run an election, and in
1907,
corporations were banned from contributing, and full disclosure of funds
was
enacted. Between his administration, all the way until 1961, and John
F.
Kennedy, presidents had only gone on record advocating reform, while
little else
changed. In that year, Kennedy established the bi-partisan
Commission on
Campaign Costs. No reform came from this group, but in 1971
Congress passed the
Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), this act would
later be important in the
Watergate affair. The bill set limits on
individual contributions and required
fuller disclosure of campaign finances.
After Watergate, new pressures emerged
to clean up the practices of
candidates running for political offices. In 1974,
Amendments to FECA
introduced public financing for presidential elections which
would give
matching funds to whatever total candidates could raise. It gave a
flat grant
to parties and created further limitations on other expenditures.
These
amendments also established the Federal Elections Committee (FEC), which
was
formerly organized the next year. There were many questions surrounding
these
new laws which were later answered by the Supreme Court which declared
some
of the measures unconstitutional. The rule which has allowed George
Bush
Jr. to go above spending limits in his primary campaign stems from
this Supreme
Court opinion. The Court found that if a candidate accepted
the matching public
funds they were to be offered, then they must abide by
the new rules. The Court
came to this controversial conclusion after deciding
that the giving of
political money was a form of free speech and should be
protected under the
First Amendment. Further reforms in 1979 changed the
content of some of these
laws, including limits and disclosure, but the
spirit is similar to the original
set of statutes. After understanding and
detailing the huge need for cash to run
an election, and the plethora of
rules that go along with a campaign, one is now
ready to begin fund raising.
There are two major groups of sources which the
author deals with;
Individuals and groups. Both groups and individuals are
limited in what they
are allowed to give. This is an issue which has become very
important in this
year's election. George Bush Jr. was able to gather a large
amount of monies
from individuals, all shelling out their allowed $1000 dollars
each. The
backbone of Bush's financial support has come from the thousands
and
thousands of loyal Republicans who have done so. It is typical for one
person in
a certain region to solicit friends and neighbors to donate money.
Bush's main
supporters will get separate $1000 dollar checks from each member
of their
family and all of their other relatives and acquaintances. This has
allowed him
to amass a large enough treasury to not have to accept the
matching funds offer,
and thus go over set spending limits. The other major
source for funds is
groups. Alexander breaks these down into Corporations,
Labor Unions, Political
Action Committees (PAC's), Other Special
Interests and Illegal Contributions.
Corporations are technically banned
from making contributions, but many have
found ways to circumvent such rules.
Since corporations are not allowed to
donate, other groups become very
important in fund raising efforts. This
campaign season, George Bush has
gotten major contributions from a number of
more conservative groups. More
liberal groups have played a large role in John
McCain's bid to become
Republican nominee for the presidency by donating time
and money to his
cause. The hype on campaign finance this election season
appears to me to be
a bit of a smokescreen to ignore real issues. It is
important to control the
amounts and types of money that potentially elected
officials are receiving
and to even the playing field as much as possible. The
average American,
however, is more interested in issues which will have an
impact on his or her
daily life. Such abstract notions such as the millions and
millions of
dollars one is dealing with when discussing this issue have
absolutely no
meaning to most voters. I would like to see the candidates telling
me and
everyone else what they will do for us while they are in office, not
the
changes they would make when it comes time for us to vote for them again.
When
compared to the amount of money budgeted to the coverage of the election
by the
major networks and cable news agencies, candidates are being totally
outspent.
The basic conclusion that I walk away from this book is this;
Politics is big
business. I believe that the man who is going to become the
president of this
country should have to be able to raise millions of
dollars, this will prove to
me that he will not be a huge and drastic failure
on Pennsylvania Avenue within
two weeks of taking office. To be successful
running the biggest corporation in
the world, with the power to end
civilization and/or kill a lot of people, my
candidate should be able to go
on a modern day, 6-8 month campaign and not shed
one drop of sweat.