Campaign Finance Reform: Disclosure v

Citizen Advocacy Center

Campaign Finance Reform: Disclosure v. Limits

Lesson Plan and Activity

Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12

Subjects:

§ Social Studies: U.S., State, and Local Government

§ Language Arts: Reading, Writing

Duration: 2 class sessions

Description: This lesson provides an overview of the role money plays in political campaigns, and the increased access that big contributors potentially have to candidates before and after an election. It also addresses basic issues regarding campaign finance reform.

ISBE Standards:

1. Social Science

§ 14A: Understand and explain basic principles of the United States government;

§ 14B: Understand the structures and functions of the political systems of Illinois, the United States and other nations;

§ 14C: Understand election processes and responsibilities of citizens;

§ 14D: Understand the roles and influences of individuals and interest groups in the political systems of Illinois, the United States and other nations; and

§ 16A: Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.

2. Language Arts

§ 1A: Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections;

§ 1B: Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency;

§ 3A: Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and structure;

§ 3B: Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences;

§ 4A: Listen effectively in formal and informal situations; and

§ 4B: Speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.

Objectives:

§ Understand the role that money plays in politics in general and political campaigns specifically;

§ Identify the arguments articulated by supporters and critics of campaign finance reform;

§ Understand Illinois campaign finance laws; and

§ Create arguments for or against campaign finance reform.

Materials:

§ Paper

§ Pens

§ Copies of the original internal documents obtained by Bill Moyer’s NOW from Republican and Democratic Parties found at www.pbs.org/now/politics/cfmemos.html.

§ Computer with internet

Instruction and Activity:

Part I:

Campaigns rely heavily on money and contributors. Many young people are unaware of the expense of political campaigns. This section of the lesson is intended to enlighten students on the expense of campaigns and the political influence and access that can be achieved through a large campaign contribution.

1. Provide your students with the following examples of election campaign costs:

a. A tight race for the federal House of Representatives cost $1.5 million to $2 million in 2000. (Data from the Center for Responsive Politics)

b. The average cost of a federal Senate seat campaign is $7.3 million. (Data from the Center for Responsive Politics)

2. Ask the students if they think the high price of election campaigns has any

effect on the democratic process. Brainstorm possible consequences.

3. Ask students to examine the original internal documents obtained by Bill

Moyer’s NOW from Republican and Democratic Parties found at www.pbs.org/now/politics/cfmemos.html. Have each student read a document and summarize its contents for a partner; to include the parties in the communication, how the campaign contributor hopes to influence government, and how successful that contributor is. Have the students switch partners and repeat. After doing this 4 or 5 times, ask the class as a whole if they believe campaign contributions influence politics, giving examples.

§ Homework for Part I:

4. Have students visit opensecrets.org and find out how much money federal candidates in Illinois are spending on their political campaigns and who is contributing to their campaigns.

a. Each student should pick one candidate. Each student should write a small summary of where that candidate is getting his or her money. For example, is that person getting a large percentage of contributions from businesses or individuals?

i. Students should be encouraged to look into the issues that candidate supports and decide if that candidate’s campaign contributions are a reflection of that support.

Part II:

Congress has made many attempts to regulate campaign financing, most recently through the Bipartisan Campaign Act of 2003 (a.k.a. the McCain-Feingold Bill). This section of the class is intended to teach students about campaign finance reform, specifically the debate between reform advocates regarding contribution limits versus contribution disclosure.

1. Explain to the class that federal candidates must follow federal regulations on campaign contributions and state candidates follow state regulations. The most recent federal regulation was the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, more commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Bill. This law put limits on the amount of contributions that can be made to a federal candidate.

i. Note: Depending on your class’ prior knowledge, this chart may require some explanation.

§ hard money: political contributions to a political party, federal

candidate, and/or political action committee that are explicitly made to support one of these three units.

§ soft money: unregulated contributions to political parties that are used for “party building activities.” Theoretically, “party building activities” include issue ads (ads that are for or against an issue, not a candidate – usually say something like, “Let Senator X know how you feel on Y issue on election day”), and get out the vote campaigns.

§ Political action committees: organizations established by businesses, interest groups, etc. to channel financial contributions into political campaigns.

Limits before McCain-Feingold Bill	Limits after McCain-Feingold Bill
$1K to a federal candidate	$2K to a federal candidate
$2K to a political party	$4K to a political party
$5K to a political action committee	$10K to a political action committee
$25K in total contributions	$30K in total contributions
Soft Money Unlimited	Soft Money Banned

2. Illinois’ only campaign finance regulation is its disclosure laws. In other words, rather than putting limits on the amount of money a candidate can receive from one contributor, Illinois requires that a candidate publicly disclose the sources for all of his/her contributions. Disclosure laws are intended to make the public aware of who is financing political campaigns, thereby foreclosing all political corruption. Specifically, Illinois law requires candidates to file semi-annual reports in non-election years and three reports before an election. Candidates must report all contributors who donate more than $150. For contributors that contribute more than $500, the candidate must also report that contributor’s occupation and employer. Candidates must file electronically with the Illinois Election Commission if the candidate has more than $10,000 of contributions. For those candidates that file electronically, detailed campaign finance information is available to the public on the internet. However, for those candidates that file via paper, only summary information is available on the internet.

3. When it comes to campaign finance reform, the country is divided on whether contribution limits, like the federal law, or disclosure, like the Illinois law, is best.

4. After explaining to the class the difference between limits and disclosure, ask them to brainstorm advantages and disadvantages to each system.

i. Advantages of Limits

Limits level the playing field and allow for average citizens to have as much influence in politics as big contributors.
Limits force politicians to create a large network of contributors, rather than relying on one or two big contributors. As a result, candidates hear concerns from a variety of people.

ii. Advantages to Disclosure

Campaign contributions are political speech. Therefore, to limit campaign contributions is to unlawfully limit free speech.
Disclosure allows citizens to see where a candidate is getting his/her money and that is adequate enough to prevent corruption.
Just because money buys access does not necessarily mean that one can “buy” politicians. There is nothing unethical about giving a candidate a large sum of money.

6. Have the class research on the internet arguments for or against campaign limits and disclosure. Then have each student write a persuasive essay that adopts one of the two means of campaign finance reform, and argue that position in a class debate. Students may be encouraged to send their essay to their state or federal representative.

Sources for arguments include:

Sources:

www.opensecrets.org

www.pbs.org/now/classroom/campaignfinance.html.

www.campaigndisclosure.org/grandingstate/il.html

www.ilcampaign.org/press/news/illinois/articles/2004/2004-6-04LegislatorGiles.html

©Copyright 2005 Citizen Advocacy Center. All rights reserved. No part of this lesson plan may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior, written permission of the Citizen Advocacy Center. The Citizen Advocacy Center is a 501(c)(3) non-pofit, non-partisan community based legal organization. For information about the Center, or to make a tax deductible contribution, visit www.citizenadvocacycenter.org, call 630.833.4080. The Center is located at 238 N. York Rd., Elmhurst IL 60126