Comments on: Public vs. grassroots campaign financing (part 2) http://digifesto.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/public-vs-grassroots-campaign-financing-part-2/ Ideas so open they'll poke your eyes out. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:09:36 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Public vs. grassroots campaign financing (part 3) « Digifesto http://digifesto.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/public-vs-grassroots-campaign-financing-part-2/#comment-96 Public vs. grassroots campaign financing (part 3) « Digifesto Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:37:30 +0000 http://digifesto.wordpress.com/?p=47#comment-96 [...] Public vs. grassroots campaign financing (part 3) Earlier, I argued that grassroots campaign funding doesn’t really make campaigns more democratic. Public campaign financing is better, but only if it is designed to actually level the playing field. The U.S. federal campaign finance system is not well-designed for this. [...] [...] Public vs. grassroots campaign financing (part 3) Earlier, I argued that grassroots campaign funding doesn’t really make campaigns more democratic. Public campaign financing is better, but only if it is designed to actually level the playing field. The U.S. federal campaign finance system is not well-designed for this. [...]

]]> By: Tim Fitzgerald http://digifesto.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/public-vs-grassroots-campaign-financing-part-2/#comment-88 Tim Fitzgerald Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:12:50 +0000 http://digifesto.wordpress.com/?p=47#comment-88 Great entries, Seb-- one thing I would point out, which I think is of pretty high relevance in this particular situation, is that there are loopholes in our campaign fundraising laws that allow rich backers to supplant individual campaign's coffers with additional funds, regardless of their public financing status. I'm referring specifically to 521 organizations like MoveOn.Org PAC (as a leftist example) and the Swift Boat Veterans (as a contrary example), who are capable of independently fundraising and pouring large amounts of money into campaign airtime and other messaging and organizing costs, without affecting candidates' spending limits. So, while John McCain will be accepting public financing, he'll also be accepting tens of millions of dollars' worth of independent expenditure on behalf of his campaign. Technically any coordination between his campaign and the 521s is illegal, but that's only somewhat relevant to their effectiveness, since everyone's pretty clear on what the ultimate goal is. Meanwhile, Barack has demanded that all 521s on the left cease operation and direct their donors to his campaign and to the DNC, subjecting them to stricter limits and preventing double-dipping on his behalf. The upside for him is he gets to control his messaging more tightly. The downside is that he becomes responsible for the messages offered by all his surrogates, who might otherwise be free to use more extreme meme warfare techniques. Great entries, Seb– one thing I would point out, which I think is of pretty high relevance in this particular situation, is that there are loopholes in our campaign fundraising laws that allow rich backers to supplant individual campaign’s coffers with additional funds, regardless of their public financing status. I’m referring specifically to 521 organizations like MoveOn.Org PAC (as a leftist example) and the Swift Boat Veterans (as a contrary example), who are capable of independently fundraising and pouring large amounts of money into campaign airtime and other messaging and organizing costs, without affecting candidates’ spending limits.

So, while John McCain will be accepting public financing, he’ll also be accepting tens of millions of dollars’ worth of independent expenditure on behalf of his campaign. Technically any coordination between his campaign and the 521s is illegal, but that’s only somewhat relevant to their effectiveness, since everyone’s pretty clear on what the ultimate goal is.

Meanwhile, Barack has demanded that all 521s on the left cease operation and direct their donors to his campaign and to the DNC, subjecting them to stricter limits and preventing double-dipping on his behalf. The upside for him is he gets to control his messaging more tightly. The downside is that he becomes responsible for the messages offered by all his surrogates, who might otherwise be free to use more extreme meme warfare techniques.

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