Democracy & Participation: Campaign/ Campaign Finance Flashcards

1
Q

What are two examples of the little impact of televised debates?

A
  • Obama v Romney 2012: Romney was coherent and aggressive, and Obama was disengaged and flat. He left many of Romney’s claims unchallenged, and it pushed Romney up in opinion polls
  • Trump v Hillary Clinton 2016: She appeared to outperform in all, but it only marginally moved her numbers.
    However… the losers both won the election.
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2
Q

How do you define the ‘effectiveness’ of the Electoral Process?

A

It is successful in producing a desired/intended result.

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3
Q

What is soft money?

A

Money donated to a party rather than candidate, and used for ‘party building activities’. Few limits.

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4
Q

What is hard money?

A

Donations directly to an electoral campaign. Subject to strict limits.

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4
Q

How can political parties be funded?

A

Individuals can send a direct donation of $2800 as well as…
- PACS: Can raise 5,000 donations per campaign
- 527s: Unlimited amount: Call for the election or defeat of a candidate but cannot coordinate with those campaigns.

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5
Q

What does PACs stand for?

A

Political Action Committees

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6
Q

What do PACs do?

A
  • A committee that raises a limited amount of money for the purpose of either defeating or electing candidates.
  • Set up due to individual limits put on campaign finance.
  • Either gives money to candidates they support or money against those they oppose.
  • Examples include: NRA, Humane USA
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7
Q

What are Super PACs?

A
  • Political committees that make independent expenditures but doesn’t make contributions to candidates.
  • Technically known as independent expenditure only committees.
  • May solicit or accept unlimited contributions.
  • Spend money to achieve their desired objective.
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8
Q

What is 527?

A
  • Named after a tax code which exempts them from tax.
  • Can raise unlimited amounts of money for political activities.
  • Not specifically for or against.
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9
Q

What are examples of campaign finance reforms?

A
  • Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) 1971
  • Buckley v Valeo 1976
  • Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain v Feingold) 2002
  • Citizens United v FEC 2010
  • McCutcheon v FEC 2014
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10
Q

What was the Federal Election Campaign Act 1971?

A
  • Was the first successful attempt to reform campaign finance.
  • Required all campaigns to disclose who had donated money and how much they have donated.
  • Amended in 1974.
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11
Q

What were the reforms of the FECA after Watergate in 1974?

A
  • Established the FEC
  • Limited individual contributions. Only contribute to candidates through PACs.
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12
Q

What was Buckly v Valeo 1976?

A

Supreme Court ruled limiting the amount an individual or PAC could spend on a campaign was against 1st Amendment rights.

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13
Q

What amendments did Congress make on the FECA in 1979?

A
  • They weakened the law on campaign finance.
  • Introduced soft money.
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14
Q

What was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 also known as?

A

McCain- Feingold Law

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15
Q

What did the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 do?

A
  • Banned soft money donations to national parties.
  • Raised individual contributions per candidate and an aggregate limit.
  • Corporations and labour unions are banned from funding issue advertisement.
  • No advertisement paid for by corporations and unions for a candidate 60 days before election.
  • Stand by candidate must endorse campaign ads.
16
Q

What was Citizens United v FEC 2010?

A
  • Citizens United released a very negative film on Clinton.
  • The Supreme Court ruled that McCain-Feingold violated free speech. 5-4 split.
  • Now have unlimited caps on soft money.
  • Still illegal for them to give money directly to a candidate.
  • Resulted in Super PACs.
17
Q

What was McCutcheon v FEC 2014?

A

Ruled the limit on donations the 2002 McCain-Feingold set on how much you could spend in a 2yr election cycle was unconstitutional.

18
Q

What are the problems with Super PACs?

A
  • Encourages inequality of funding.
  • Encourages negative campaigning.
  • Encourages excessive influence of major donors.
19
Q

How much did Priorities USA Action raise on behalf of Clinton’s campaign?

A
  • Over $192 million.
  • This represented over 90% of all outside group money raised on behalf of her campaign.
20
Q

How much of Clinton’s campaign was sourced by herself?

A

0.3%

21
Q

What % of Trump’s campaign was sourced by himself in 2016?

A

23%

22
Q

How much did Rebuilding America Now donate to Trump’s 2016 campaign?

A

$23 million

23
Q

What PAC donated $23 million to Trump’s campaign?

A

Rebuilding America Now

24
Q

Why is campaign finance hard to reform?

A
  • Those in power benefit. It could make a President’s re-election more difficult.
  • Too many loopholes – groups find ways to work around it.
  • PACs, 527s and SUPER PACs all demonstrate that groups will use money to influence elections, one way or another.
  • &*Supreme Court rulings on the 1st Amendment** have made it more difficult.
  • Constitution is entrenched and difficult to change.
  • Lack of consensus on what campaign finance reform would look like.
  • &&Lack of bipartisan agreement** – making effective legislation or a constitutional amendment highly unlikely.
25
Q

What are some potential campaign finance reform?

A
  • Small-donor matching funds. (Funds that are set to be paid in proportion to funds available from other sources.)
  • Donor declarations more regular rather than quarterly, meaning some campaign donations are not released until after the election.
26
Q

Why did the FECA 1971 fail?

A
  • Loop holes and weakened by the SC and Congress.