Supreme Court Rejects Vermont’s Campaign Finance Law
This is a complicated issue. We'll let the Washington Post take it: "The Supreme Court struck down Vermont's strict limits on campaign contributions and spending yesterday, in a splintered ruling that left intact the constitutional basis of current campaign finance laws but may make it difficult to put new curbs on money in politics."Wait, before you go…Washington Post:
The Supreme Court struck down Vermont’s strict limits on campaign contributions and spending yesterday, in a splintered ruling that left intact the constitutional basis of current campaign finance laws but may make it difficult to put new curbs on money in politics.
Vermont’s law, approved in 1997, was the toughest in the country with regard to setting limits on the amount individuals and parties may contribute to campaigns and, perhaps more significantly, on how much candidates may spend on their campaigns.
The measure was enacted as a direct challenge to Buckley v. Valeo , the 30-year-old Supreme Court ruling that has generally been read to permit limits on campaign contributions, for the purpose of stopping corruption or apparent corruption — and to bar limits on candidates’ spending as a violation of free speech.
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Growing unease over inquiries, allegations of misspending and executive shakeup has some rich members pulling back pledges and even suing.
Sanders' presidential campaign announced that it raised an eye-bugging $26 million in the third quarter -- essentially matching the $28 million raised during those three months by Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
In his weekly radio address, President Obama showed his dismay at the Supreme Court's decision to remove corporate campaign finance limits, warning of a pending deluge of special interest money into our democracy -- a subject he knows quite well as he continues to fight for health care reform.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties are experiencing a unique form of financial comeuppance, as the economic recession they were in charge of preventing -- that has now caused a 8.4 percent national unemployment rate -- is causing a dramatic drop in the level of political party donations.
You may have knocked on doors for Barack Obama, but it's possible you gave money to John McCain. GoodGuide has a tool that sorts donations by party, logo and industry. Tech companies seem to prefer Democrats while food companies love Republicans. The banks, of course, throw money at everybody.
It's not particularly surprising that oil executives at the Hess Corp. got a little excited when John McCain changed his position in June and called for offshore drilling, but it is interesting that the Hess brass, according to Talking Points Memo, apparently demonstrated their gratitude (cue cash register sound effect here) by writing some big checks to the McCain campaign.
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