Can Campaign Finance Reform Actually Work?
“. Can Campaign Finance Reform Actually Work? Comments Prepared for an American Constitutional Society Panel in Philadelphia Bob Bauer June 5, 2008 Enforcement Expectations and Hard Calls. The first question in judging the effectiveness of enforcement is what we wish to have enforced. On the basics, the law has been plentifully enforced. Contributions limits are enforced; disclosure requirements are enforced; most, for that matter, of the Code of Federal Regulations implementing the federal law is enforced. Not always within the same election cycle as the occurrence of the violation, and not always with the degree of mercilessness in the setting of fines that critics call for: but, still, enforced. Even the parts of the Code that govern the spending of unions and corporations—spending considered under the campaign finance laws, in an unfortunate equation of unions and corporations, “soft money”—have been enforced more effectively than many suspect, with real consequences. Consider the
