NRCC Disclosure Violations? Roll Call offers "More Donors, Less Information" (registration required), stating that the National Republican Campaign Committee in campaign finance reports through April

failed to identify an occupation for more than 73 percent of the nearly 38,000 individual contributors listed in its month-to-month reports. Even a greater percentage of the givers were listed without naming an employer.

The degree of nondisclosure by the NRCC has made it virtually impossible to tease out patterns among the committee’s givers this cycle. And it has raised suspicions among campaign finance watchdogs about whether the NRCC may be capriciously — or even willfully — flouting the law, which requires the committee to try to obtain basic details about its donors.

John Edwards Benefits from BCRA's Increased Individual Contribution Limits See "A Candidate Turns New Money Rules to His Advantage" in the New York Times. Here are two snippets:

Mr. Edwards's success is an early signal of how the new campaign finance law, if upheld by the Supreme Court, could greatly increase the amount of money raised by presidential candidates and continue the influence of wealthy special interests like trial lawyers. The new law allows donors to give $2,000 to a candidate per election, double the old limit, although it bans political parties from accepting the unlimited donations known as soft money.

and

According to an analysis of Mr. Edwards's donations by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, one-third, or $2.46 million, came from that part of individual donations above the old $1,000 legal limit.

With some campaigns raising much of their money through large chunks, "ordinary Americans will see their voice drowned out in this big sea of money," said Adam Lioz, a campaign finance analyst with the group, which has challenged the constitutionality of the new limits.

-- 
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211
(213)736-1466
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rick.hasen@lls.edu
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http://electionlaw.blogspot.com