Campaign Finance Laws Could Soon Be Altered

Politico reports that a series of court decisions could fundamentally alter the way elections are funded -- even allowing special interests, corporations and unions to donate unlimited funds to political parties.

One week after announcing it will review Federal Election Commission rules, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments that could loosen rules for campaign fundraising.

Those fundraising rules, reports Politico, were put in place by President Theodore Roosevelt's administration following his own campaign finance scandal:

In the 1904 presidential campaign, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World revealed that nearly three-fourths of President Theodore Roosevelt's $2.2 million campaign war chest came from a handful of corporate chieftains. His Democratic opponent, Alton Parker, raised three-fourths of his money from just two corporate honchos: an industrialist and a banker.

Upon reelection, Roosevelt was embarrassed enough from the scandal to push through the first law banning corporate political donations.

The Washington Post reported last month that the court struck down regulations intended to inhibit the influence of independent political organizations such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and MoveOn.org.

The groups "are now free to accept unlimited contributions, to spend unlimited funds independently supporting or opposing federal candidates," said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an election law expert. "One of the things we know about outside groups, as opposed to political parties, is that they run more negative ads. . . . This could lead to a more negative campaign season."