Trevor Potter - the financing of Elections

Heard Trevor Potter speak at Chautauqua in July 2013

• Money and Politics
• Former chair of the Election Process
• Campaign Finance Law
• Delinquent intersection between money and politics
• Chief counsel to Stephen Colbert
• Just remember he's the funny one
• Lower the tone on money and politics
• Where are we in the financing of elections
• Corporations have the same right to contribute to political campaigns as do private individuals
• $100s of millions donated from non traceable sources
• $7 Billion spent on the last election
• 337% increase in 20 years
• 2008 less than half that
• $85 Million Senate race
• The Supreme Court has ruled that spending limits on elections is unconstitutional 
• The government can only appeal that candidates spend less
• No legal limit on campaign spending
• The Buckley decision
• No limits on self-funded candidates
• First Amendment was written to prevent restriction of free speech even if that speech was against the government
• But what does this have to do with restricting campaign spending
• 1904 - one robber baron said when Teddy Roosevelt was elected - 'we bought his election, he just didn't continue as though he had been bought'
• 1907 corporations were limited to what they could contribute
• Citizens United in 2010, the majority of the Supreme Court agreed that corporations had the legal status of persons an therefore shouldn't be restricted in terms of campaign contributions
• Where are we?
• Corporate money? Yes
• Foreign money? No
• It is now the Supreme Court and not Congress who determines who can contribute and who cannot
• The huge jump in campaign contributions because of the Citizens United 
• Dark Money - you don't know where the money is coming from
• Justice Anthony Kennedy - what was he smoking? To think that all corporate campaign money could be traced 
• Gutting of the disclosure provisions
• Names like Americans for a better America
• Corporations like these veiled contributions, don't have to answer for their campaign spending to the public or to their shareholders
• Congress could change this but they are deadlocked
• It is not clear how they thought that the process wouldn't be corrupted?
• The court was simply wrong in thinking that this would be independent
• Wholly independent turns out not to be!
• Where does the money come from?
• Average Americans - lowest recordable level $200
• What percentage 1/3 of 1% of Americans donate at the
• Minimum donation
• 163 people gave over 50% of total Superpac donations
• Worried that it will be limited to a couple of guys in a room
• The rich being left out by the super rich
• Most donors are men
• 222 Obama 2012
• Total number of fundraisers attended for his reelection campaign
• 9 Reagan 1984
• Total number of fundraisers for his reelection campaign 
• 4 hours - daily congressional schedule making fundraising calls for a safe seat, more for a contested seat
• Corporate Spending - hasn't changed in terms of union contribution but significant increases for private corporations
• SuperPacs may be bad for America but they are good for CBS
• Negative ads are effective, they undermine confidence in a candidate
• Motivation - Justice Kennedy - making profits, corporations can be sued for poor returns
• When a corporation enters a political race it is with the intent of supporting the short term profit interests of the company
• This entrenches the status quo
• I am not a US company and I don't make decisions based on what's good for the US - former CEO Mobile Exxon Lee Raymomd
• It is important exposé the ugliness of political fundraising Chris Murphy -   recently elected Senator
• What constitutes the greatest threat to US democracy - campaign spending -
• Members of congress are spending 1/2 their time dialing for dollars
• If you have money you have a leg up on the competition
• American Anti- corruption act
• PAC / Superpac / secretly
• PAC is a political action committee
• It is an organization, opening a bank account having a treasurer registered with the government
• Candidate can have a pact - a candidate action pac
• Super PAC - no limit on amounts
• Regular pacs have a $5,000 limit
• As long as the group is only doing independent expenditures 
• It has unlimited resources independent of candidates - so called independent ads
• The anonymity of the donor? What is the argument for anonymity - they ought to be disclosed
• Requiring people to declare who I am is forcing or compelling speech
• Is there any chilling affect on contributions if names are revealed?
• The story of Target and Minnesota 
• Target contributed $500,000 to a candidate who was pro business but who was subsequently a anti-gay candidate
• Target took a real hit because of anti-gay legislation
• Bain capital - super PAC tried to hide under the radar
• The values of full disclosure help uphold democracy - people need to know who the speaker is -