Is “Dependence Corruption” the Solutionto America’s Campaign Finance Problems?

Abstract

U.S. campaign finance regulation is currently in bad shape. The combination of congressional inaction, regulatory ineffectiveness, and constitutional constraint perpetuates a status quo that no one intended and many deplore. Public financing for presidential elections is effectively dead, while Super PACs and other forms of independent spending are on the rise. The 501(c)(4) nonprofit disclosure rules are very leaky, allowing corporations and others to conceal soft money contributions to Super PACs if they so choose. The Supreme Court has effectively precluded comprehensive campaign finance reform by its rulings, which have thrown out independent and personal expenditure bans, limited public finance to opt-in schemes, loosened the definition of issue ads, and allowed corporations to use unlimited amounts of their treasury monies to fund independent campaigns. To borrow from Vladimir Lenin, “[W]hat is to be done?”