Twenty years ago when Congress passed the bipartisan McCain-Feingold bill on campaign finance reform, many celebrated what they hoped would be a new era in US politics. There were limits set for individual contributions and those of political action committees. All contributions in federal elections were to be reported to the Federal Election Commission and made available for public scrutiny. There was also a taxpayer fund established that would allow presidential candidates, if they wished, to secure matching funds for lower-level contributions to their campaigns, if they accepted a limit on their overall spending.
What we feared was that big money would ultimately find a way to subvert McCain-Feingold and once again insert itself into the electoral process. After the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case found that money was a form of free speech and therefore its use in politics could not be limited, the floodgates were again opened to financial abuse of the electoral process. What followed were massive “independent expenditures” from both the left and right, by corporations and interest groups supporting or opposing campaigns. Groups representing banks, big pharma, women’s rights, the gun lobby and others spent millions to advance their interests. The funds they poured into campaigns–“dark money expenditures”– were considered private and therefore not subject to FEC reporting or public disclosure.
Supporters of Israel have a long history of bundling large contributions to support or oppose candidates. Before and after McCain-Feingold there were scores of pro-
— source aaiusa.org | James Zogby | Aug 08, 2022