About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

28 Crime L. & Soc. Change 1 (1997)

handle is hein.journals/crmlsc28 and id is 1 raw text is: Crime, Law & Social Change 28: 1-25, 1997. 1 © 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Campaign finance reform legislation in the United States Congress: A critique BERTRAM J. LEVINE Department of Political Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA Abstract. Legislation to reform campaign funding in the United States must produce a system which reduces the potential for corruption, real or perceived, and creates greater equality of fund raising opportunity between incumbents and challengers. Bills before the 104th Congress would require bureaucratic and arbitrary systems of regulation; they would not produce work- able reform. Within the existing full disclosure system, two reforms would be most effective: setting maximum dollar amounts for soft money contributions; and limiting fund raising by lobbyists. An even more effective system would be to blind contributions made to the campaign committees of individual candidates. Introduction Within days after winning reelection, President Bill Clinton announced two legislative priorities for the 105th Congress: achieving progress toward a balanced budget and reforming the system through which U.S. political cam- paigns are financed. He reiterated these objectives during both his Inaugural and State of the Union addresses. On the matter of campaign finance, he sin- gled out legislation authored by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.) during the 104th Congress as the vehicle of choice. This legislation has now been amended and resubmitted for consideration by the 105th Congress. That the President should have placed campaign-finance reform alongside a balanced budget at the top of his priority list is revealing. Notwithstanding the political problems created by finance scandals that troubled his own reelection campaign, the President's announcement emphasizes the importance U.S. political elites, and a large segment of the population as well, now attach to the need for a new, more equitable and less potentially corrupting system of campaign financing. The acknowledged need for change, if properly understood, reflects more than concern about a failing system; it is a not-so-subtle admission of the low regard many Americans now have for elected public officials, whom they perceive as being both protectors and beneficiaries of that system. This is so

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most