[EL] The New Socialism - Super-PACs Stealing From Rich People

[Will Moore]

Brad,

You've made two arguments here.  1) These ads are useless and that shows
that campaign finance laws are silly because campaign money has diminishing
marginal utility that is zero at a relatively low amount. So there's no
harm to opening the system.  2) These ads are useful.

Either could potentially be a useful argument.  But they can't both be
true.  So which one do you find most persuasive?

-Will


William Moore
*The Moore Firm - Business Law*
5755 Oberlin Dr., Suite 301, San Diego CA 92121 | www.themoorefirm.net
(858) 210-7999 | wmoore at themoorefirm.net



On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Smith, Brad <BSmith at law.capital.edu> wrote:

>  When Citizens United was decided, people including Russ Feingold would
> say ridiculous things, including "the total net worth of U.S.
> corporations was $23.5 trillion, and after tax profits were nearly $1
> trillion. During the 2008 election cycle, Fortune 100 companies alone had
> profits of $605 billion. That’s quite a war chest that may be soon
> unleashed on our political system.”
>
>  As Will's comment illustrates, that's absurd. You can't do it. Indeed,
> if Will is correct, then appears we're now spending just about the right
> amount - with just a few days to go, the campaigners finally "ran out of
> useful things to do with their money."
>
>  However, actually I think it is more complicated than that.
>
>  One of the bad things that campaign finance regulation has done is to
> require centralized fund-raising and campaign systems, especially at the
> presidential level. Between passage of the 1974 Amendments to FECA and
> Citizens United and SpeechNow.org, it was extremely difficult to spend any
> meaningful dollars, or even small amounts of money, outside of the national
> party and the national campaign, in a presidential race - especially
> because of the constraints imposed by tax funding (with its accompanying
> spending limits) and coordination rules. As a result, presidential
> elections adopted a top down command structure, with nothing wasted in
> "uncompetitive" states. Prior to that time, much more money would be raised
> and spent locally, outside the national campaign structure, even in states
> that were not "competitive" in a particular election. The presidential
> campaign was the motivating force and central event for state and local
> party building.
>
>  The demise of local presidential campaigning has hurt local minority
> parties, contributing to the increase in geographically polarized voting
> areas.
>
>  California badly needs a competitive two-party system, and spending some
> money around the most visible political campaign - the presidency - in
> order to build support for the party in the state is probably a good thing
> for the public, and in the long run a smart thing for the party.
>
>  *Bradley A. Smith*
>
> *Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault*
>
> *   Professor of Law*
>
> *Capital University Law School*
>
> *303 E. Broad St.*
>
> *Columbus, OH 43215*
>
> *614.236.6317*
>
> *http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx*
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [
> law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Will Moore [
> wmoore at themoorefirm.net]
> *Sent:* Friday, November 02, 2012 9:05 AM
> *To:* Election Law
> *Subject:* [EL] The New Socialism - Super-PACs Stealing From Rich People
>
>  Saw 3 anti-Obama ads on the Channel 8 news in San Diego this morning
> from American Crossroads and Restore Our Future. Again, these ran on Local
> TV in San Diego.  California.
>
>  This means that they ran out of useful things to do with their money
> before they ran out of money.
>
> If I was a rich, right-wing ideologue, I'd be asking for a refund. As it
> is, I'm contemplating starting a conservative Super-PAC so I can steal
> money from rich, right-wing ideologues - just like Karl Rove does.
>
> -Will
>
> William Moore
> *The Moore Firm - Business Law*
> 5755 Oberlin Dr., Suite 301, San Diego CA 92121 | www.themoorefirm.net
> (858) 210-7999 | wmoore at themoorefirm.net
>
>
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