soft
money
FREE NEWS LINKS
HOME
SEARCH
Updates & changes ongoing ....
----
Although this site is https-secure, we cannot guarantee that it or any
provided links are safe; be sure your antivirus and other security systems are
up to date.
Also see:
Hard money; black money; dark money;
Jump to: 2017; 2018; 2019;
2020;
Undated:
'Hard' and 'Soft' Money
Contributions made directly to a specific candidate are called hard
money and those made to parties and committees are called soft money.
Soft money constitutes an alternative form of financing campaigns that emerged
in the last years. It "derives from a major loophole in federal campaign
financing and spending law that exempts from regulation those contributions made
for party building in general rather than for specific candidates".[19]
There are no limits on soft money and some examples are donations for stickers,
posters, and television and radio spots supporting a particular party platform
or idea but not a concrete candidate.[19]
For the amounts of soft money contributed in recent years and the legislation
that enabled this, see the section on the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)
Under
FECA, corporations, unions, and individuals could contribute unlimited
"nonfederal money"—also known as "soft
money"—to political parties for activities intended to influence state or
local elections. In a series of advisory opinions between 1977 and 1995, the FEC
ruled that political parties could fund "mixed-purpose" activities—including
get-out-the-vote drives and generic party advertising—in part with soft money,
and that parties could also use soft money to defray the costs of "legislative
advocacy media advertisements," even if the ads mentioned the name of a federal
candidate, so long as they did not expressly advocate the candidate's election
or defeat.[34]
Furthermore, in 1996, the Supreme Court decided Colorado Republican Federal
Campaign Committee v. FEC, in which the Court ruled that Congress could not
restrict the total amount of "independent expenditures" made by a political
party without coordination with a candidate, invalidating a FECA provision that
restricted how much a political party could spend in connection with a
particular candidate.[35]
As a result of these rulings, soft money effectively enabled parties and
candidates to circumvent FECA's limitations on federal election
campaign contributions.[36]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States#Bipartisan_Campaign_Reform_Act_%282002%29
-- 2017 --
May 22:
Supreme Court Affirms Ban on ‘Soft Money’ in Campaigns
Opponents of ban say they will take concerns to Congress
https://www.rollcall.com/politics/supreme-court-affirms-ban-soft-money-campaigns
May 22: Supreme Court Keeps ‘Soft Money’ Out
of Federal Elections
https://www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-keeps-soft-money-elections/
August 4:
Soft Money Is Back — And Both Parties Are
Cashing In ... Critics deride the practice as ‘legalized money
laundering.’
Here’s how this shell game works: Top donors spent the 2016 election cycle
legally writing six-figure checks to so-called joint fundraising
committees—committees that can dole their contributions out to multiple allies,
notably including state political parties. But rather than keep all the cash,
the state parties have been quickly steering the money to the national parties,
taking advantage of their ability to transfer unlimited cash to their national
affiliates.
The joint fundraising vehicles aren’t new, but the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision
to eliminate some obscure but important campaign contribution limits in
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission had the effect of
supercharging them. The 2016 election provided a first, full glimpse at what the
new legal landscape would mean in reality.
The result: Parties are more aggressively and successfully courting a small
number of deep-pocketed donors, giving the wealthy another way to exert their
ever-growing influence over politics. And the national parties, which had lost
their luster as deep-pocketed donors steered their money to other vehicles, are
once again flush with burgeoning amounts of cash whose origins can be difficult
to divine.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/04/soft-money-is-backand-both-parties-are-cashing-in-215456
-- 2018 --
March 5:
DOJ & FEC Complaints Urge Full Investigation of Apparent Illegal
Coordination Between Trump and RNC & Outside Groups
... reason to believe that President Trump and his campaign, Vice
President Pence and his leadership PAC, the Republican National Committee (RNC),
and a number of aides violated numerous campaign finance laws by coordinating
“soft money” fundraising and spending with the Super PAC America First Action (AFA)
and the dark money group America First Policies (AFP).
https://www.commoncause.org/press-release/doj-fec-complaints-urge-investigation-of-illegal-coordination-between-trrump-rnc-and-outside-groups/
June 14:
The New York state attorney general sued U.S. President Donald Trump,
three of his children and his foundation on Thursday, saying he illegally used
the nonprofit as a personal “checkbook” for his own benefit, including his 2016
presidential campaign.
Paul S. Ryan, head of litigation at Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog
group in Washington, said the New York filing provides details of actions that
could also violate a federal ban on campaigns funneling “soft money” through
nonprofits.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-trump-foundation/new-york-sues-trump-and-his-charity-over-self-dealing-idUSKBN1JA26G
June 14:
Trump blasts New York lawsuit: 'I won't settle this case!'
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-trump-foundation-reply/trump-blasts-new-york-lawsuit-i-wont-settle-this-case-idUSKBN1JA2AA
-- 2019 --
Undated:
Soft Money Backgrounder
Looking at the soft money contributions made by corporations and unions
helps us understand the past behavior and potential future financial involvement
...
Unlimited, unregulated "soft money" contributions to the national parties were
not publicly disclosed until the 1991-92 election cycle, and were banned by the
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act following the 2002 elections.
Federal election law permits Congress to regulate independent expenditures made
by corporations and unions in connection with campaigns for federal office.
Whether such regulations unconstitutionally restrict the speech of these
entities is a matter of heated debate. But apart from this constitutional
controversy, it's instructive to explore the extent to which corporations and
unions are willing to spend money to influence federal elections. Looking at the
soft money contributions made by corporations and unions helps us understand the
past behavior and potential future financial involvement of these groups in our
political process.
https://www.opensecrets.org/parties/softsource.php
-- 2020 --
Webpage visitor counts provided
by
copyr 2018 trump-news-history.com, Minneapolis, MN