Same Old Story
It is a beautiful day, and I am behind on a writing project, so I will bring you an observation from the dim past (1944 to be exact) -
. . .present day pressure groups show a growing tendency to participate in political campaigns indirectly through striving to inculcate “broad sociopolitical attitudes which, while invariably indentifiable as favorable to one set of candidates rather than the other in any given campaign, and understood as such by those whose opinions are affected, nevertheless profess to be nonpartisan and in that sense nonpolitical.”
Want more? The quote is from the House Special Committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures, Rep. No. 2093 (78th Cong. 2d Sess. January 2, 1945), also knows as the Anderson Committee Report. The passage is found in Louise Overacker’s Presidential Campaign Funds (1946). Overacker’s preferred remedy was “publicity” i.e. disclosure, which had been the reform embraced by Democrats early on as a means to drive corporate funds from political campaigns. Publicity was also the preferred alternative (to a ban on expenditures) in the labor organization context, which was the debate at the time of this publication.
I wonder what Overacker would make of the revised LM-2, filed annually by unions, and available here.
New Blog: Skeptic’s Eye
John J. Miller recommends a new blog: Skeptic’s Eye. A post today gives perspective to current campaign finance reform efforts, and makes me angrier at John McCain…
Trackback by Kicking Over My Traces — May 31, 2005 @ 12:14 pm
Should Blogs Trust the FEC?
Ever since last Fall when the a court ruling required the FEC to include the Internet in its definition of public communications and to begin regulating activities on line, blogs have been very nervous and concerned exactly what outcome will prevail.
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Trackback by Scared Monkeys — May 31, 2005 @ 4:45 pm