5 November 2013 Money & Political Voice

1. 5 November 2013Money & Political Voice Political Campaigning & Communication with the Public in the US Context

2. AMERICAN POLITICAL IDEAS & PARTIES

3. Classical Liberal Thought • European Enlightenment ideas • Thinkers influencing the American framers: • John Locke and his ideas of natural equality, capacity for rational thought, popular sovereignty, natural rights of individuals, and a right of revolution. • Adam Smith and his ideas regarding free market capitalism.

4. Political voice & political parties • Centrality of classical liberal ideas in American culture & politics • Notion that human beings are rational, free & equal • Distrust of government power, even in a democracy • Evident in American Declaration of Independence of 1776

5. Declaration of Independence • Human beings are created equal. • Have inalienable rights, among them life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness. • Government created to protect rights. • Government derives its power from consent of the governed. • When a government destroys those rights, people have a right to alter or abolish it.

6. American political thought • Classical liberalism the underlying American ideology, shared by both liberals and conservatives. • Shared values: individual rights, human rationality, legal equality, free market, wariness of government power. • Political parties stress different rights and disagree about the active role of government.

7. Democratic Party Focuses on individual rights, civil liberties, a right to education, minimum wage, environmental protection. Free market important but regulation needed for environment, civil rights & workers’ rights. Larger role for government. http://www.democrats.org/

8. Republican Party • Focuses on robust free market, property rights, lower taxes and less government regulation in environment & labor rights. Smaller government role. Economic conservatives. • Republican National Party • http://www.rnc.org/

9. New actors in Republican Party • Social conservatives since 1980 • Large role for government to advance moral & religious values; important issues are birth control, abortion & homosexuality. • Tea Party Movement since 2009 • Most conservative. Angry & suspicious of government power. Advocated recent government shut down.

10. CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING

11. Campaign expenditures • advertising and publicity • salaries of campaign professionals • rent, phone, postage, computers, software, internet access and utilities for hundreds of offices nationwide • travel & food • everything else

12. Campaign expenditures • Important to campaign strategy. Funds are finite. Even well funded candidates can run out of money in the middle of the race and be forced to drop out. • A key part of winning is raising the necessary money.

13. Campaign fundraising • The first campaign finance laws barred contributions from corporations & then from labor unions. • Political push in the 1970s to regulate contributions. Perceived problems: • Wealthy candidates had unfair advantages. No level playing field. • Lack of transparency led to concern about corruption & buying elections.

14. Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) • Federal Election Commission created • Requires candidates disclose their receipts & expenditures • Limits campaign contributions to candidates • Provides public funding for presidential candidates • Matching funds at primary stage • Full funds at general election stage

15. FECA& public funding • Public funding is not high and limits apply to spending & raising funds. So candidates may decline public funds. • 2000 - 1st time they were declined in primary race (G.W. Bush). • 2008 - 1st time major party candidate declined them in general race (Obama) • McCain $84 m./Obama $400 m. • 2012 - 1st time both major party candidates declined them (Obama & Romney)

16. Political donations as free speech? • Supreme Court in 1976 upheld most of FECA but struck down limits on individual expenditures on behalf of a candidate. Court said it violated free speech under the 1st Amendment., which reads: Congress shall make no law… abridging freedom of speech.

17. Political Action Committees • Indirect way for groups, corporations & labor unions to channel money into campaigns. Rules apply: cannot come from corporation or union general funds; must be voluntary campaign contributions from employees or members. PAC contribution limit of $5,000 per candidate per election.

18. Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 • Barred corporations (profit & nonprofit) and unions from using general funds to make independent expenditures for “electioneering communication” – e.g., a broadcast referring to a specific federal candidate - and publicly airing it within 30 days of a federal election.

19. Citizens United v. FEC, 2010 • In 2008, FEC barred nonprofit political group from running an attack ad on Hillary Clinton within 30 days of election. The group sought an injunction against FEC so it could run the ad. • Lost in lower court. • Won in Supreme Court.

20. Citizens United v. FEC, 2010 The Supreme Court 5/4 Court struck down BCRA as an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. Their reasoning: Corporations are legal persons with the same free speech rights as human beings.

21. Dissent: Citizens United v. FEC • BCRA only barred the ad from airing 30 days before election. Not a heavy burden on free speech rights. • Precedents broken. • Corporations are not legal persons with speech rights. Justice Stevens argued, “Corporations are not actually members of [society]. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters.”

22. Court ruling controversial • Efforts underway to pass federal legislation, state & local resolutions, and even a constitutional amendment to reverse the finding that corporations are persons with free speech rights. • Both conservatives & liberals criticize the decision. • Citizens United ruling stands for now.

23. Outcome: Super PACs A new political player: Super PACs. Now almost 1,300. Their impact on the 2012 race: Total receipts exceeded $800 million Total independent expenditures exceeded $644 million

24. Federal limits still apply • Legal limits in 2012

25. Despite reforms, historic highs • In 2000, Bush raised $105 million total. • In 2004, Bush raised $293 million to Kerry’s $254 million. • By 2012, Obama raised almost $716 million to Romney’s $446 million

26. Money totals in 2012 Overall spending on behalf of : • The Blue Team at $1,100,614,303 • The Red Team at 1,225,446,037 In all campaigns in 2012: more than $6 billion. (2012 December, opensecrets.org)

27. More on money in 2012 • Top ContributorsBarack Obama (D)1University of California $1,092,9062Microsoft Corp $761,3433Google Inc $737,0554US Government $627,6285Harvard University $602,992 • Mitt Romney (R)1Goldman Sachs $994,1392Bank of America $921,8393Morgan Stanley $827,2554JPMorgan Chase & Co $792,1475Credit Suisse Group $618,941

28. Impact on democracy? • The major concern from a democratic perspective is “the frightening degree to which, in America, more money means more effective political voice. Democratic and Republican politicians are more likely to agree with the views of their wealthier constituents and to listen to them than they are to those lower down the income scale.” • (New York Times, 3/11/13)

29. Sources of funds • Drawing from the readings for today, who are what are the major fundraising sources that candidates rely on?

30. Sources of funds • Drawing from the readings for today, who are what are the major fundraising sources that candidates rely on? • Small donors. • Which candidate received the most benefit from this group?

31. Sources of funds • Drawing from the readings for today, who are what are the major fundraising sources that candidates rely on? • Large donors • Which candidate received the most benefit from this group?

32. Sources of funds • Drawing from the readings for today, who are what are the major fundraising sources that candidates rely on? • Joint Fundraising Committees • Which candidate received the most benefit from this group?

33. Sources of funds • Drawing from the readings for today, who are what are the major fundraising sources that candidates rely on? • Super PACS. • Which candidate received the most benefit from this group?

34. Super PACs & money in 2012 • Restore Our Future -Pro Romney • $142,655,218 Expenditures • $153,841,706 Raised • American Crossroads –Pro GOP candidates • $104,772,098 Expenditures • $117,467,007 Raised • Priorities USA Action - Pro Obama • $66,182,126 Expenditures • $79,063,478 Raised

35. Any rules on Super PACs? • Not many. They are fairly easy to set up, as comic Stephen Colbert showed viewers in 2011, when he created a Super PAC called AMERICANS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW TOMORROW and got the FEC’s approval. • http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/391146/june-30-2011/colbert-super-pac---i-can-haz-super-pac-

36. Any rules on Super PACs? • Then Colbert explored the effectiveness of the law that Super PACS can’t legally coordinate their candidates. They can only rune issue ads. • http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/401674/november-07-2011/colbert-super-pac---issue-ads---trevor-potter

37. New campaign financing terrain • Frontline, “Big Sky, Big Money,” 30 Oct. 2012. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money/

38. “This map explains political Washington perfectly,” by Chris Cillizza, 16 Sept. 2013, Washington Post. • http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/09/16/a-map-that-explains-political-washington-perfectly/?wprss=rss_campaigns&tid=pp_widget