[EL] Efficacy of Campaign Finance Reform

[Trevor Potter]

I take it you did not like the REST of the Economist piece as much??  You end with:

 [Which suggests, I would submit, that when voters say that rich donors control everything, they may not be talking about absolute amounts of money, or even individual election rules. ]

The rest of the article goes on to say the following:

They are—at least in part—saying something else: that they feel the fix is in and ordinary voters are powerless in an economy run for the benefit of the rich and well-connected.

Now, that does not mean that campaign donations cannot be corrupting. At some basic level, it feels indecent to spend tens of millions of dollars on individual Senate races. Nor do I scoff for a moment at those who long for campaign finance reform. If big donors are to be allowed to pour fortunes into election races, for instance, it is common sense that they should not be allowed to do so anonymously.

So this columnist agrees with those rooting for campaign finance reform. I just would not expect it to have magical effects on the public’s angry, distrustful mood.


Trevor Potter

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 27, 2015, at 6:52 PM, Benjamin Barr <benjamin.barr at gmail.com<mailto:benjamin.barr at gmail.com>> wrote:

Perhaps your students are on to something, Steven.

Well...except for the money buys elections mantra.  That's silliness squared.

Or, as the Economist put it, people everywhere have deep-rooted suspicions that the "fix is in" regardless of the campaign finance laws in question.  England, where they ban egg ads and find monkey advertisements suspicious, shows similar results with its war on electoral speech.  Urban legends are so difficult to dislodge.

As the Economist stated:  "I have covered elections in Britain and British voters voice exactly the same complaints, word for word. Angry, distrustful British voters are convinced that democracy is being undermined by vast sums of corrupting money, to the point that elected representatives are essentially bought and paid for by wealthy special interests.  Yet British election spending is regulated more tightly than any model dreamed of by even the most starry-eyed campaigner in America. Which suggests, I would submit, that when voters say that rich donors control everything, they may not be talking about absolute amounts of money, or even individual election rules."  http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/11/big-money-politics?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e<http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/11/big-money-politics?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e>

Campaign finance reform is a dying industry, thankfully.  I'm glad America's youth gets this.

Forward,

Benjamin Barr
General Counsel
Pillar of Law Institute





On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 6:04 PM, Steven John Mulroy (smulroy) <smulroy at memphis.edu<mailto:smulroy at memphis.edu>> wrote:
Many of my election law students are of the view that all campaign finance reform efforts are doomed, that money always has been and always will be the determinant factor in politics.  I think this view may color their opinion of the value of learning about the law of campaign finance.

I wonder if any of you can refer me to any studies, articles, or data suggesting that campaign finance reforms (even ones subsequently invalidated by the Court) can be effective?

Steven Mulroy
Professor of Law
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
University of Memphis
Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
1 North Front Street
Memphis, TN 38103
901.678.4494<tel:901.678.4494> office
View some of my research on my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=114356<http://ssrn.com/author=114356>
<image001.jpg>


_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election<http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election>

_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 This email has been scanned for email related threats and delivered safely by Mimecast.
 For more information please visit http://www.mimecast.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20151027/bcbd6036/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4396 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20151027/bcbd6036/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 115102719155603519.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9616 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20151027/bcbd6036/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4396 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20151027/bcbd6036/attachment-0001.jpg>