campaign finance: an overview by sunlight foundation's bill allison
DESCRIPTION
Bill Allison, Sunlight Foundation editorial director, provides an overview of companies and politics during the free, daylong workshop, "Follow the Money -- Tracking Companies' Influence on Politics." For more information about free training for business journalists, please visit businessjournalism.org.TRANSCRIPT
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Campaign FinanceAn overview
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Why is this stuff so important?Politicians do
notice campaign contributors
That doesn’t mean it buys votes, but it does buy access and the opportunity to persuade an elected politician to see things your way
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How to get attention
“Top Verizon executives, including CEO Ivan Seidenberg and President Dennis Strigl, wrote personal checks to Rockefeller totaling $23,500 in March, 2007. Prior to that apparently coordinated flurry of 29 donations, only one of those executives had ever donated to Rockefeller (at least while working for Verizon).”
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Happens at state level…You may recall Gov.
Rick Perry
Texas Tech fund rewarded donors
They gave in $32K-$310K range
They got millions back
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…and at the local level Donors gave Kasim
Reed campaign contributions
Insiders raised money for Reed’s mayoral campaign
Airport concessions awarded to…Big donors to Reed’s
campaignBig fundraisers for
Reed’s campaign
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Multiple means to exert influence
Hire former staffers as lobbyists
Hire former lawmakers, councilmen, etc.
Contribute to inaugural events
Give money to lawmaker charities
Give to super PACs
Hire relatives of elected officials
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Politicians have lots of pockets
Campaigns
Parties
Leadership PACs
Nonprofits
Businesses & investments
Super PACs
Family members
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Businesses “pick the pocket”Lots of places to look
We’ll suggest some resources
Not all this money can be traced
Sometimes, you need sources
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Two different perspectives on this
Money is inconsequential Contributors give to
lawmakers because of the member’s positions (Phil Gramm and NRA)
Money is decisive Presidential campaigns
are auctions; Congress is a big flea market with all sorts of bric-a-brac policies on sale
Truth is always somewhere along the continuum between the two
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“When elected officials solicit these contributions from interests who almost always have matters pending before the Congress, [they] become at least psychologically beholden to those who contribute. It is inevitable and unavoidable.”--William Brock, former Senator, former RNC Chairman
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That doesn’t mean…That all politicians are
bought and paid for
Very few make up bribe menus like the one to the right
But politicians tend to grant more access to big contributors than non contributors, and their views and actions sometimes reflect this
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Bank of America increased the interest rate on Bonnie Rushing’s credit card from 8 percent to 23 percent.
Sen. Thomas Carper: “But let me just ask you -- put yourself in the shoes of the credit card company…”
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And how do the credit card companies feel about Sen. Tom Carper?
Rushing’s monthly interest bill went from about $150 to $674
Small change to a U.S. Senator’s campaign committee…
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Think of inputs and outputs
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So before we go further into the fun stuff, let’s look at the rules…
Federal elections have one set of rules (and multiple sets of resources for following the money)
State elections have 50 separate sets or rules (one for each state)
Some local jurisdictions have rules specific to them (sometimes dependent on state law)
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In Colorado, corporate and labor donors are banned, except when they aren’t
Colorado Springs is the largest home rule municipality in Colorado
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Let’s focus on Federal rules. Individuals can donate…
(inflation adjusted) Up to $2,500 per
election to a candidate, that is, $2,500 for the primary, $2,500 for the general
$30,800 to a national party committee (RNC, DCCC, etc.)
Up to $117,000 every two years to PACs, parties, candidates…
(not inflation adjusted) Up to $5,000 to a
Political Action Committee per year
$10,000 to state, district & local party committee (for use in federal elections, that is) (combined limit)
Unlimited amount to super PAC for eligible U.S. donors
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…but potentially a lot more if they have a lot of friends
Bundlers put together networks of donors, all of whom can write $500, $1,000 or $2,500 checks to campaigns
They are much more important to presidential campaigns, but members of Congress also rely on them
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Can also give unlimited amounts to 527s, 501cs and super PACS
All three have separate rules501cs don’t disclose527s avoid some
activitiesSuper PACs disclose
but have few restrictions
Candidates can raise money for super PACs
Most giving so far has been individual
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Big trend from 2008?Rise of the small
donor
Contributions under $200 don’t have to be itemized
Campaigns must still keep donor lists for small donors, subject to FEC audit
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Worth remembering…Unitemized=less than
$200
Obama’s totals very similar to Bush ’04
Congress relies more on big donors
Big money still decisive
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Small donors get a raffle…$5 donors offered dinner
w/Obamas
Good technique for attracting small donors
Did it in 2008 too
But unlike the lottery…
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Big donors get accessDonors who give to
Obama & DNC get access
It’s not like spending $35,000 on lottery tickets
Lotteries are more honest…
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Bigger trends from 2008?Bundlers are bigger than
ever
They operate at the presidential, congressional and state level (probably local too…)
No requirement that their identities be disclosed, except…
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As part of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007Registered lobbyists
must disclose the bundling of contributions they do for federal candidates
Applies to individuals they bring to fundraisers, PACs they control or persuade to contribute
All bundles over $16,200 are reported.
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Easy to defeat disclosureWe see tons of invites like
this one
Hosts commit to raise money
Vast majority don’t show up as bundlers
Even when they’re lobbyists
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What a business can do
Form (and pay expenses of) a political action committee PACs can contribute
$5,000 per election (i.e., primary, general) to a candidate; $15,000 to a national party committee; $5,000 to state, district or local parties per year; $5,000 to other PACs per year
Funds must be “segregated” from other corporate money
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Note this language…
Where are corporations like ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil, and labor unions as well, making contributions?
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Make donations to 501(c)’s
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…to some state level parties
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…and to Super PACsMostly individual
donors
Few businesses show up
But individuals run companies
Have interests before gov’t
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Hire lobbyistsLobbyists get access
This page is beautiful
Shows wining and dining
Lobbyists are also contributors
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Donate to inaugural committees
All states have different rules
Sometimes donors can give more
Enron gave lots to Bush’s inaugural committee
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Pay for junketsNot always easy to
trace
Disclosure for Congress, Executive Branch
States, localities vary
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Where do you get information?
Federal Primary
FEC.gov House Clerk Secretary of Senate
Secondary OpenSecrets.org InfluenceExplorer.com NICAR NY Times ProPublica.org Wall St. Journal
State Primary
State election authorities
State ethics commissions
IRE has a resource for finding them
Secondary Followthemoney.org InfluenceExplorer.com
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www.FEC.govClunky
Getting better
Still not perfect
Original source of data
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Useful features
Presidential election map with zip coded contributions
Congressional election map with downloadable files for every candidate
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Other featuresClunky search engine
Ability to see raw paper reports
Download huge data files
Enforcement, press releases, other data
Explanations of campaign finance law
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Lobbying
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What you get
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OpenSecrets.org
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Tons of data…Federal candidates
1987 to present
Pacs 1997 to present
Lobbying 1998 to present
Trips, financial disclosure and much more…
You can buy custom slices of data from them
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InfluenceExplorer.com
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NICAR/IRE
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New York Times
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For non-developers
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ProPublica’s PAC tracker
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Wall St. Journal
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State level campaign finance
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State money
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National Institute on Money in State Politics
Like CRP, they industry code contributions
Covers all 50 states
They always run a bit behind raw state disclosures
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InfluenceExplorer.com
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Get bulk data too