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Political Spending: Civic Engagement is Not a Threat to Democracy

January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

The First Amendment guarantees every American freedom of speech. That freedom includes the right to spend money on speech. Without money, a political group cannot buy ads, print fliers, organize protests, or hire staff. Short of shouting one’s opinions on a street corner, it takes money to spread a message. Recognizing this relationship, the Supreme Court has long prohibited the…

Campaign Finance 101: Money Doesn’t Buy Votes

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November 3, 2014   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  

Tomorrow is the midterm election, and, if tradition holds, Americans will be inundated Wednesday with countless newspaper stories indicating that this midterm is “the ...

Is "campaign finance reform" about good governance?

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October 7, 2014   •  By Brad Smith   •  

From a recent announcement about an upcoming appearance by FEC Vice-Chair Ann Ravel, co-hosted by The League of Women Voters and RepresentUs.org, two groups that advocate ...

CPA Set to Release 2014 Index

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September 23, 2014   •  By Joe Trotter   •  

The Center for Political Accountability (“CPA”), in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, is set to release its ...

New Wesleyan-CRP Report Suffers from Old Flaws

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September 9, 2014   •  By Luke Wachob   •  

The Wesleyan Media Project and the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) have a new report out on independent spending in 2014 Senate races. Unfortunately, ...

Money Still Doesn’t “Buy Elections”

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July 7, 2014   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  ,

Last Wednesday, The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart wrote a noteworthy piece criticizing former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich for his inane statements ...

Experts respond to “The New Soft Money”

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June 19, 2014   •  By Luke Wachob   •  

Wednesday, as part of George Washington University’s Political Law Studies Initiative, a panel of campaign finance and election law experts met to discuss a ...

“New Soft Money,” Same Old Arguments

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June 18, 2014   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  

On Wednesday morning, Law Professor Daniel Tokaji and Graduate Research Fellow Renata Strause, both of Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, unveiled their ...

The Corruption Sleight of Hand

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June 13, 2014   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  

Crooked politicians are often the poster boy for greater campaign finance regulation, used to justify every imaginable measure of government control over speech, from ...

“Outsiders” or “Insiders”?

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June 12, 2014   •  By Luke Wachob   •  

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) writes this week to warn us of “Outside money pouring into governors races.” The “outsiders” in question: the ...

Votes Win Elections

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June 11, 2014   •  By Joe Trotter   •  

Despite the repeated mischaracterizations by organizations and politicians ginning up support for controlling Americans’ ability to associate politically by claiming that money buys elections, ...

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