Representative Roscoe Bartlett

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Campaign Finance

In the 110^th Congress, Campaign Finance has taken a back seek to other campaign related provisions, namely, lobbying reform and electioneering communications.

Still, the most recent substantive piece of campaign finance legislation remains the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002” (BCRA), which was signed into law by President Bush on March 27, 2002. Some provisions were upheld by the Supreme Court on December 10, 2003; however, it currently is being challenged once again. The provision being challenged involves electioneering communications and freedom of speech issues.

“Electioneering communication” is defined by BCRA as radio and television advertisement which mentions or depicts a federal candidate within thirty days of a primary or sixty days of a general election and which reaches 50,000 or more people. Corporation (including trade associations, unions, and interest groups) must pay for that communication with PAC funds only.

On April 25, 2007, the Supreme Court heard the arguments in the case of Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC. Wisconsin Right to Life has prevailed in a lower federal court. The facts of the case are these. The following is from the James Madison Center for Free Speech which is closely watching this case.

In 2004, Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) challenged a provision of the 2002 campaign finance law that prohibits citizen groups from broadcasting communications that mention a federal candidate during blackout periods before elections. WRTL had been running grassroots lobbying ads about the filibusters of President Bush’s judicial nominees. The ads informed citizens they could call Wisconsin Senators Kohl and Feingold and ask them to oppose the filibusters. The ads did not state the position of either Senator on the filibuster. Since Senator Feingold was then a candidate, WRTL had to stop its ads for 90 days before the November election because of BRCA’s ban on “electioneering communication.” A federal district court in DC held that the ads were constitutionally protected.

I am firmly committed to protecting our Constitution. As stated in the First Amendment to the Constitution; "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". No constitutional right is absolute, and this is why I believe that money can and should be limited in the political process. It is clearly a violation of the First Amendment to restrict and limit what people can say about a candidate and when they may choose to speak out. The First Amendment was founded on the freedom of speech, and specifically designed with free political speech in mind.

In the 110th, I have re-introduced the "First Amendment Restoration Act" (HR 71). This legislation will repeal the ban on non-PAC funded issue advocacy radio and television advertisements thirty and sixty days before the primary and general elections, respectively.

Other Campaign Finance Legislation of in the 110th:

H.R. 420 (Meehan-Shays) -- 527 Reform Act of 2007.

Includes in definition of political committee any IRC §527 organization, unless it: (1) has annual gross receipts of less than $25,000; (2) is a political committee of a state or local party or candidate; (3) exists solely to pay certain administrative expenses or expenses of a qualified newsletter; (4) is composed solely of state or local officeholders or candidates whose voter drive activities refer only to state/ local candidates and parties; or (5) is exclusively devoted to elections where no federal candidate is on ballot, to non-federal elections, ballot issues, or to selection of non-elected officials;

Makes last exemption (above) inapplicable if the IRC §527 organization spends more than $1,000 for: public communications that promote, support, attack, or oppose a clearly identified federal candidate within one year of the general election in which that candidate is seeking office; or for any voter drive effort conducted by a group in a calendar year, unless: (1) sponsor confines activity solely to one state; (2) non-federal candidates are referred to in all voter drive activities and no federal candidate or party is referred to in any substantive way; (3) no federal candidate or officeholder or natl. party official/agent is involved in organization's direction, funding, or spending; AND (4) no contributions are made by the group to federal candidates;

Codifies 2005 FEC regulations and makes them applicable to 527s not affected by current rules;

Allows contributions to non-federal accounts making allocations (above) only by individuals and subject to limit of $25,000 per year; prohibits fundraising for such accounts by national parties and officials and federal candidates and officeholders;

States that this act shall have no bearing on FEC regulations, on any definitions of political organizations in Internal Revenue Code, or on any determination of whether a 501(c) tax-exempt organization may be a political committee under FECA;

Provides special expedited judicial review procedures, similar to BCRA's, for a challenge on constitutional grounds, and allows any Member to bring or intervene in any such case.

Introduced January 11, 2007; referred to Committee on House Administration.

S. 223 (Feingold) -- Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Requires Senate candidates' disclosure reports to be filed electronically. Introduced January 9, 2007; referred to Committee on Rules and Administration. March 28, 2007, unanimously reported by Rules and Administration Committee, as amended, and placed on Senate legislative calendar.

S. 463 (McCain-Feingold) -- 527 Reform Act of 2007.

Identical to H.R. 420. Introduced January 31, 2007; referred to Committee on Rules and Administration.

S. 1091 (Corker) -- Campaign Accountability Act of 2007

Repeals limits on political party coordinated expenditures. Introduced April 11, 2007; referred to Committee on Rules and Administration. April 18, 2007, hearings held in Rules and Administration Committee.

The most recent substantive piece of campaign finance legislation we undertook was the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002” (BCRA), which was signed into law by President Bush on March 27, 2002 and key provisions were upheld by the Supreme Court on December 10, 2003. The intention of this bill was to ban “soft” money, redefine express advocacy including political advertisements on radio and television, and to raise the maximum contribution levels.

Soft money is money given to national political parties by corporations and labor unions, which was previously unrestricted by campaign finance law. This major source of funding for the national political parties is now prohibited under BCRA. National parties may now only accept contributions from individuals and federal Political Action Committees (PACs).

The third major change that BCRA brought about was raise individual contribution limits, known as “hard money,” to federal candidates, national party committees and federal accounts of state political parties.

In order to repeal some of the unconstitutional provisions that this law legislates, I have introduced the "First Amendment Restoration Act" in subsequent Congresses. This legislation will repeal the ban on non-PAC funded issue advocacy radio and television advertisements thirty and sixty days before the primary and general elections, respectively.

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