Campaign Finance Humor
Milestones in Campaign Finance
• 1971 Watergate: “Hush Money” Burglers hired by CREP. FEC created and spending limits.
• 1979 – 2002: Soft Money Era . Lincoln Bedroom visits. Ends with McCain-Feingold Act
• 2007 onward – Whittling begins. Soft money returns: 527s, “issue ads” and others grow.
Citizens United v. FEC 2010• Corporations and unions
can spend unlimited amounts from their treasuries on vote for/vote against independent ads.
• Cannot coord with candidates nor donate directly. Must disclose.
• Before: Only through PACS
• Opened era of Super Pacs and explosion of “Dark Money.”
• More big money influence
Citizens United
• President Obama called the Citizens United decision: “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans
Hard Money is the Best • Under federal law, an individual in the 2016 election
cycle may contribute: – $2,700 to a candidate per election (primary and general are
considered two different elections)– $33,400 to a national political party committee per year– $5,000 to a PAC per year
•A PAC may contribute: – $5,000 to a candidate per election (primary and general) – $15,000 to a political party per year– $5,000 to another PAC per year
Bigger and Darker Money
• 501 C’s NON PROFITS • tax exempt• IRS code• varying political
involvement • 527’s tax exempt
under IRS rules • SUPER Pacs
Campaign Money with No Fingerprints
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVe7galMGuc
• http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/politics/poll-shows-americans-favor-overhaul-of-campaign-financing.html?hpw&rref=politics&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
Levels of Giving
• http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/09/21/us/politics/21money-graphic.html
Other terms
• Bundlers • PACS and Leadership
PACS• Party Committees• Public Matching
Funds
2012: The Most Expensive in History
• $6.3 billion
• ($300 million from outside groups)
The Big Givers
2012 Presidential: $1 Billion candidate spending
• https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/#out
• Candidate $540.8 $336.2• Party $292.2 $386.2 • Outside $131.3 $418.6
• Total $964.3 $1.141 billion million
2016: Outside money (top) Candidate money (bottom)
Jeb Bush (R) $103,222,384$24,814,730
Hillary Clinton (D) $20,291,679$77,471,604
Ted Cruz (R) $38,655,257$26,567,298
Bernie Sanders (D) $25,044$41,463,784
Ben Carson (R) $7,295,668$31,409,509
Marco Rubio (R) $17,315,782$15,515,638
And what about Donald Trump?
Donald Trump (R) $0$5,828,922
Outside groupsCandidate
Outside spending so far – incomplete disclosure
Not coordinated with candidate -- issue ads – not full disclosure
Type of Group Total Spent # of GroupsRegistered
# of GroupsSpending to date
Super PACs $95,079,020 1,702 65
Social Welfare 501(c)(4) $1,991,529 N/A 6
Trade Assns 501(c)(6) $2,965,477 N/A 1
Unions 501(c)(5) $0 N/A 0
Parties $570,166 72 4
Other (corporations, individual people, other groups, etc) $2,822,556 185 38
Grand Total: $103,428,748 2,026 114
Super Pacs 2016: Spent and Raised Right To Rise USA
supports Bush $52,247,651 Conservative $103,167,845
America Leads supports Christie $10,734,898 Conservative $11,003,304
Conservative Solutions PAC
supports Rubio $8,685,534 Conservative $16,057,755
New Day For America
supports Kasich $4,371,997 Conservative $0
Club for Growth Action
$3,759,266 Conservative $2,844,708
Security is Strength
supports Graham $3,504,375 Conservative $2,897,435
Believe Again supports Jindal $2,634,873 Conservative $3,685,918
New Day Independent Media Cmte
supports Kasich $2,489,336 Conservative $0
Families funding the race
• The 158 families each contributed $250,00 or more in the campaign through June 30, according to the most recent available FEC filings and other date, while an additional 200 families gave more than $100,000.
• Together the two groups contributed well over half the money in the presidential election – the vast majority of it supporting Republicans.
Families Mostly Backing Republicans
• Republicans: 138 Democrats: 20
What to look for: Giving and Spending
• GIVING • Patterns: regions, industries,
issue groups• Outliers, and oddities• Big v Small donors• Bundlers• Fed/State/Local races• New techniques and
colorful events (lavish excess)
• Periodic reports
• SPENDING • Air war v. ground war• Who’s getting rich
(consultants, ad buyers, pollsters)
• In what states• Big Data• Conventions,
Inaugurations • Burn Rate
SOURCES
• http://www.fec.gov/index.shtml
• https://www.opensecrets.org/
• http://sunlightfoundation.com/
• http://www.followthemoney.org/
handouts
• http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/09/21/us/politics/21money-graphic.html
• Also john edwards story and political consultants stories in gmail.
Super Givers So Far
Organization Total View* IndependentExpenditures
ElecComm
CommCosts
SuperPAC 527s† 501c
Right To Rise USA $44,541,053 C $44,541,053 $0 $0 x
America Leads $10,716,610 C $10,716,610 $0 $0 x
Conservative Solutions PAC $5,391,895 C $5,391,895 $0 $0 x
New Day For America $3,972,097 C $3,972,097 $0 $0 x
Club for Growth $3,834,726 C $3,834,726 $0 $0 x
VIEW ALL GROUPS