Campaign FinanceAn overview

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

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).”

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

…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

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

Politicians have lots of pockets

Campaigns

Parties

Leadership PACs

Nonprofits

Businesses & investments

Super PACs

Family members

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

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

“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

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

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…”

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…

Think of inputs and outputs

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)

In Colorado, corporate and labor donors are banned, except when they aren’t

Colorado Springs is the largest home rule municipality in Colorado

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

…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

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

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

Worth remembering…Unitemized=less than

$200

Obama’s totals very similar to Bush ’04

Congress relies more on big donors

Big money still decisive

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…

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…

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…

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.

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

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

Note this language…

Where are corporations like ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil, and labor unions as well, making contributions?

Make donations to 501(c)’s

…to some state level parties

…and to Super PACsMostly individual

donors

Few businesses show up

But individuals run companies

Have interests before gov’t

Hire lobbyistsLobbyists get access

This page is beautiful

Shows wining and dining

Lobbyists are also contributors

Donate to inaugural committees

All states have different rules

Sometimes donors can give more

Enron gave lots to Bush’s inaugural committee

Pay for junketsNot always easy to

trace

Disclosure for Congress, Executive Branch

States, localities vary

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

www.FEC.govClunky

Getting better

Still not perfect

Original source of data

Useful features

Presidential election map with zip coded contributions

Congressional election map with downloadable files for every candidate

Other featuresClunky search engine

Ability to see raw paper reports

Download huge data files

Enforcement, press releases, other data

Explanations of campaign finance law

Lobbying

What you get

OpenSecrets.org

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

InfluenceExplorer.com

NICAR/IRE

New York Times

For non-developers

ProPublica’s PAC tracker

Wall St. Journal

State level campaign finance

State money

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

InfluenceExplorer.com

Get bulk data too