Counting Dollars
N., T.
Counting Dollars The Federal Election Campaign Act sought to control the cost of elections through public financing, contribution limits, and spending ceilings-in other words, by controlling...
...Counting Dollars The Federal Election Campaign Act sought to control the cost of elections through public financing, contribution limits, and spending ceilings-in other words, by controlling the flow of money...
...All three elements-public financing, spending ceilings, and contribution limits-were applied to presidential elections...
...This freed congressional candidates from having to observe spending limits (since there was no public financing for congressional elections...
...TN...
...How it came to fail is a useful lesson in how not to reform the electoral process...
...For campaigns for the Senate or the House, only the latter two became law, though contributors were eligible for a 50 percent tax credit of up to $50 for an individual and $100 on a joint return...
...The idea of a spending "ceiling" was immediately challenged on First Amendment grounds, and in 1976 the Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Vallejo that ceilings could be enforceable only if candidates had chosen to accept "floors...
...that is, public financing...
...The theory was that public financing would provide access to public office, while spending ceilings, and contribution limits of $1,000 for individuals and $5,000 for PACs in primaries and general elections, would keep costs within reason...
...These would be difficult if not impossible to regulate, and in the case of legitimately independent efforts, where citizens are seeking to get across their own message about what they regard as a candidate's strengths (rather than being in cahoots with a campaign), we wouldn't want to restrict them...
...Even if Buckley v. Vallejo were reversed, the law would have to contend with independent committees, local parties funneling "soft money" into national campaigns, and services like the free phone banks that Walter Mondale got from union supporters this past primary season...
Vol. 16 • July 1984 • No. 6
