Better Parties, Better Government: A Realistic Program for Campaign Finance Reform - Wallison, Peter J.; Gora, Joel
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Every federal campaign finance reform law enacted since 1971 ostensibly intended to keep politicians honest and limit the influence of contributors has in reality protected incumbents by reducing the funds available to challengers. Although the courts have struck down many of the most egregious incumbent-protection measures enacted by Congress, important ones still remain particularly restrictions on what political parties can spend in support of their candidates. These restrictions explain why reelection rates for incumbents are so high up to 98 percent in recent years despite record-low…mehr

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Produktbeschreibung
Every federal campaign finance reform law enacted since 1971 ostensibly intended to keep politicians honest and limit the influence of contributors has in reality protected incumbents by reducing the funds available to challengers. Although the courts have struck down many of the most egregious incumbent-protection measures enacted by Congress, important ones still remain particularly restrictions on what political parties can spend in support of their candidates. These restrictions explain why reelection rates for incumbents are so high up to 98 percent in recent years despite record-low approval ratings for Congress. The most effective way to change this pro-incumbent system is to lift the restrictions on political parties, allowing them to become both the principal vehicles for political fundraising and the principal sources of campaign funds for their candidates. This would improve funding resources for challengers, strengthen the parties, reduce the appearance of corruption inherent in the current candidate-centered fundraising system, and ultimately strengthen American democracy. In Better Parties, Better Government: A Realistic Program for Campaign Finance Reform, Peter J. Wallison and Joel M. Gora guide us through the complex tangle of laws, rules, regulations, exceptions, exemptions, and safe harbors that constitute our current campaign finance regime, and explain how to reform the system with a single change: ending the restrictions on spending by political parties in support of their candidates. This single reform will make elections more competitive, improve the candidate and policy choices available to voters, and thereby transform American politics."
Campaign finance laws essentially prohibit political parties from fundraising on behalf of individual candidates, forcing candidates to finance campaigns independently. This system favors wealthy candidates and protects incumbents while discouraging challengers. In Better Candidates, Better Parties, Better Government, Peter J. Wallison and Joel Gora argue that allowing parties a greater role in campaign fundraising would strengthen the parties, attract more qualified candidates, and free officeholders to govern without undue financial influence.
Autorenporträt
Peter J. Wallison is the Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. A former general counsel of the U.S. Treasury department, he was also counsel to Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller and White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan. Joel M. Gora is a professor at Brooklyn Law School and former legal counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. As an ACLU lawyer, he represented the plaintiffs in the Buckley v. Valeo case, arguing that the requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act violated the rights protected by the First Amendment and heavily favored incumbents.