Fiscal Federalism

FECA

Federal Elections Campaign Act created federal commission called FEC to oversee and regulate campaign money

• It established limits on how much money a person or candidate could spend on an election, BUT the court case Buckley v. Valeo said that you cannot limit the candidate’s spending on their own campaign because it is a form of free speech.

• FECA regulated hard money, not soft money

Hard money

money given directly to a candidate

Soft money

money given to a party or interest group who can buy advertising on the candidates behalf

BCRA

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which increased the amount of hard money people could spend and tried to regulate soft money and make it more apparent

• Stand By Your Ad provision- now all campaign ads needed to have “im darby and i approve this message”

PAC

organization that raises money to influence the public to vote for their preferred candidate

Connected PAC

formed by corporations or other entities like labor unions. They can only collect funds from members of their organization. Money can be donated directly to candidates in limited quantities, but they can raise unlimited amounts of money

Non-Connected PAC

formed independent of an organization, usually around a specific public interest. Donations are limited by law, but they can accept donations from the public and donate directly to candidates

Super PAC

can be formed by anyone, and accept unlimited donations, but cannot directly coordinate with a candidate