I am sharing another guide to political empowerment, which may be useful to advocates on disability issues. As with other guides I've disseminated, I am not thereby endorsing the publishing organization, but do appreciate the insights and tips of general applicability that it has gathered and made available. ---------- A COMMON CAUSE GUIDE TO CITIZEN ACTION How, When and Where to Communicate With Your Elected Officials And Other Ways to Make Your Voice Heard What good can one person possibly do? Common Cause was built on the belief that individuals working together can change the world. Since 1970, Common Cause members have lobbied Members of Congress for government reform. Our successes have come from persistence and the strength of unified citizen voices. This guide will show you how one person can work to reform government. HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR LEGISLATORS Technology has provided us with a range of opportunities to make our voices heard. Particularly when time is of the essence, e-mail, faxes and telephone calls are effective -- nearly instant -- communicators. Western Union also provides a low-cost opportunity to send a wire to your Member of Congress. Bear in mind that an opinion on current legislation will receive more attention than general observations. Common Cause could never have won its important victories in the fight against corruption in government without the lobbying of many, many members. Your effort could tip the scale -- and help change a vote! WHO TO CONTACT Your Members of Congress were elected to represent you, so by all means, let them know what you think. Contacting House and Senate leaders during the build-up to an important vote can be extremely effective. The President's office also keeps track of communications on current issues. You may not get a personal response, particularly if your e-mail, phone call or letter is one of hundreds on the same topic, but be certain your message will be heard, loud and clear. HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR In general, for all types of communication, be as specific as possible. Keep it brief. Identify your subject clearly, give the name and bill number of the legislation you are concerned about. Be reasonable; don't ask for the impossible or engage in threats. Ask that your legislators state their positions on the issue; you are entitled to know. E-MAIL or FAX your Members of Congress. CALL your Members of Congress at their offices in Washington, DC or at their state offices. You can also call your Senators or Representative by dialing (202) 224-3121 (U.S. Capitol Switchboard) and asking for the Member by name. Although you most likely will end up talking to a staffer and not the Member, your call -- your voice -- will be heard. WRITE on personal letterhead (if you have it), and be sure to sign your name if you have typed the letter. Put your return address on your letter. Envelopes get thrown away. MEET with your legislators and question them at public events. Keep questions short and to the point. Make sure your question is specific: "Will you vote for S. 1219?" or "Will you make a public pledge to support this campaign reform effort?" Do not use a public forum as an opportunity to argue with a Member of Congress. If you disagree with their response or find it inadequate, discuss this with them after the forum, schedule a meeting in their local office or send a letter outlining your concerns. E-mails, faxes, letters and other written communications to Members of Congress have maximum impact when they concern pending legislation. HOW LAWS ARE PASSED IN CONGRESS After a bill is introduced by a Senator or Representative, it is assigned to the appropriate committee, according to subject area, for mark-up. Here it is studied and rewritten. Hearings are held to solicit both public and special-interest views. During mark-up, the committee considers the specific language of a bill and may amend or change it. When the bill clears the committee, it goes to the floor for general debate and action. Once both houses pass a bill, a conference committee made up of both Senators and Representatives works out any differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed versions. The final conference version must be approved by both houses; then, the bill goes to the President to be signed into law. The President may veto the bill; in that case, a two-thirds veto override vote in both the House and Senate is required for the bill to become law. WHEN TO LOBBY At any point in this process you may want to personally lobby your Representative, Senators, the House and Senate leaders or the President. There are special times in the legislative process when your letters and calls can be especially productive. For example: When a bill is introduced and assigned to a committee, you can contact your legislators to request that they cosponsor the bill. Obviously, the more cosponsors a bill has, the more likely it is to gain support and move through the legislative process. If the bill is bottled up in committee and appears unlikely to ever emerge, you might contact your Members of Congress and urge them to get the bill moving. In the Senate, a minority of Senators can stop passage of a bill by launching a filibuster, essentially an endless debate. Many campaign finance efforts over the years have fallen victim to Senate filibusters. The votes of 60 Senators are needed to end a filibuster and allow action on a bill. You might contact your Senators and urge them to fight obstructionist filibusters blocking action on important legislation. When legislation is about to come up on the floor of the House or Senate, you could contact your legislators and urge support for the position you advocate. OTHER WAYS TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD In addition to communicating with your legislators, there are other ways to influence issues you care about. Letters-to-the-Editor A letter-to-the-editor gives you a chance to inform thousands of people about a critical piece of legislation. Many people read these sections of the newspaper, especially elected officials. Even if it is not published, your letter might inspire an editorial on the same subject. When writing a letter-to-the-editor, observe how long the average published letter runs, and keep your letter within this length. Make your letter concise; avoid rambling and nonspecificity. Be certain to sign your name and give your address and telephone number, although the latter will not be published. Most newspapers do not print anonymous letters, although they may withhold your name if you feel strongly about it. Newspapers often receive more letters than they can print, so if your letter is not published the first time, try again. An Opinion Piece Many newspapers feature a section opposite the editorial pages (often called the Op-Ed page) for citizen opinion. If you are comfortable writing, consider submitting an article on a subject you know and care about. Talk With a Reporter or Editor Stop by your local newspaper's office and chat with reporters or editorial page editors. Give them special information like editorial backgrounders -- updates on issues prepared by Common Cause especially for the media. You can find editorial backgrounders in the News and Information section. Radio Call-In Shows Let others know what you think. Ask questions of those who appear on these shows. Ask a Representative or Senator how he or she intends to vote on an upcoming issue. Encourage listeners to call their Members of Congress. Radio talk shows are also great opportunities to mention Common Cause and our issue fights. Distribute Action Flyers Distribute informative flyers on reform issues in your community. Give them to friends and neighbors, or hand them out at your local library or public meeting place. Urge other citizens and community groups to become active. Encourage Membership Join Common Cause and ask your friends to join. The more members we have, the more clout citizens will have in the battle to clean up Washington. Reach Out to Other Organizations Common Cause works in Washington with the national representatives of a broad range of organizations. Bring up Common Cause issues at meetings of other groups you belong to, and enlist others' support in letter-writing and grassroots lobbying campaigns. ---------- PERSONAL CONTACT WITH YOUR LEGISLATOR _________________________________________________________________ A meeting with your legislator is helpful at various stages of lobbying. It is important to meet with the legislator at the beginning of his or her term. This gives you a chance to develop a working relationship on the issues of importance to you and to get a sense of the legislator's general attitude on those issues. A meeting can also be vital during a congressional recess to discuss the latest legislative developments while the legislator is back home. This sends the legislator back to the capital with a sharper impression that your issue is one of those that folks "back home" have been concerned about while he or she has been away -- and that it is an issue on which constituents are monitoring him or her closely. Finally, it is helpful to meet with a representative after an important vote or action in Congress, to thank him or her for support or to express disappointment in the vote and make it clear you will continue to lobby for a change in position on that issue. Following are some guidelines for organizing and holding a meeting with your representative: _________________________________________________________________ BEFORE THE MEETING _________________________________________________________________ o First, decide whether or not a meeting is appropriate at this time. You will make a more effective presentation, and have a greater lobbying impact, if you have the purpose for your meeting clearly thought out. What do you want to talk to the representative about, who should go to the meeting, and what outcome do you want from the meeting? o You may visit your representative alone, with other Common Cause members, or with people from other groups in your community that are concerned about the same issues. It is often helpful to have a delegation meet with the representative. It shows that the issue is not simply a singular, personal concern but is an issue of importance to many individuals and groups in the community. o Call, write, email, or fax your representatives home office or office at the capital. You can reach all Representatives and Senators in Washington, D.C. by calling 202-224-3121. Ask a staff member to arrange a time to see your legislator the next time he or she is home in the district. (If you are going to be traveling to Washington, you can ask for an office visit at the Capitol if Congress is in session.) o Tell them what issue you want to discuss and who will be with you at the meeting. o Prepare for your meeting. Do your homework. You do not need to be an expert, but you should be familiar with the basics of the issue you will be discussing. Also make yourself familiar with the representatives latest position or actions on the issue. Refer to letters from the representative or other public comments he or she has made recently on the issue. Background information is available from back issues of Common Cause Magazine or other mailings from the national office. Further up-to-date information on the issues and the legislator's stand is available from the national office -- call 202-833-1200 and ask for the Grassroots Department or check out this site for more information. o If a group is meeting with the representative, it should be established in advance who will be the principal spokesperson for the group. _________________________________________________________________ DURING THE MEETING _________________________________________________________________ o Be on time, or ideally a few minutes early. This will give you a chance to think through your presentation and to get to meet the staff members of the representative. If it is a group meeting, all participants should introduce themselves to the representative. o It is important initially to establish some common ground -- perhaps by thanking the representative for a recent vote in favor of Common Cause-supported legislation, co-sponsorship of a bill, or for public statements on an important issue. o Know what you want to say, know your facts and make a short presentation (no more than five minutes). Present your views politely but persuasively. Start by telling your representative that you want support for your issue, then give your arguments. Find out exactly where your representative stands on the issue. Ask what action he or she intends to take. o Be a good listener. Let your representative ask questions as you go along, and answer them with hard facts and understanding. You don't have to agree with his or her views, but you should show that you are willing to hear them. o Don't let the representative evade the issue. Don't be afraid to press for specifics. If he or she changes the subject, tactfully bring it up again and ask what his or her position is on the issue. Don't be concerned if you can't answer all the representative's questions -- you are not expected to be an expert. If you don't know the answer, let the representative know that you will get the information and get back to him or her. o Don't assume the representative is against your position just because he or she asks hostile sounding questions. While the representative may be opposed to your views, he or she may simply be finding out how to answer the arguments of opponents to your view. Use the questions as a barometer of his or her concerns about the issue and as an opportunity further to inform him or her about the issue. o If the representative immediately makes it clear he or she is on your side, thank him or her for that support and encourage him or her to play a leadership role with colleagues on the issue. _________________________________________________________________ AFTER THE MEETING _________________________________________________________________ o Immediately following the meeting, please summarize the legislator's comments for your records and send them to the Grassroots Department for your state -- Common Cause, 1250 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 (or call 202-833-1200). The information you provide greatly assists our inside lobbying efforts in Washington. o Also immediately following the meeting, send a thank you letter to the representative and to the staff member who arranged the meeting. Restate your understanding of the positions the member took on the issue in the meeting and thank him or her for any expressions of support for your position. If the meeting was inconclusive, include a summary of your position, answers to specific questions the representative raised and any other new information that supports your views. _________________________________________________________________ OTHER CONTACT WITH YOUR LEGISLATOR _________________________________________________________________ Questioning the candidates. During an election -- when incumbents and challengers are likely to be most available to constituents -- it is helpful to meet with all candidates to question them on their positions on Common Cause issues. Candidates' debates, coffee parties, a formal appointment or even a chance encounter during the campaign all are appropriate forums for questioning the candidate. The winner will then be more aware of Common Cause and its issues and will identify you as a local contact for Common Cause. It is important that it is clear that Common Cause is non-partisan and does not support or oppose candidates. Meeting with a staff person. Although it is preferable to meet with the representative personally, a meeting with a staff person either in the local or capital office can also be beneficial. While staff members don't cast the vote of their Member of Congress, they are key people who can give you valuable information and advice. The staff person will also report your concerns to the representative. Meeting with the member's staff gives you an opportunity to build a closer relationship with the office. As you get to know the staff person, you will then be able to call upon him or her in the future for information, appointments and to relay messages to the representative. Dropping off information to local offices. Sometimes it is not possible or necessary to set up a formal meeting with the Member or his or her staff. One way to get your views across in an effective and personal way is to drop off information about the issue to the Member's local office. This could include good editorials, a Common Cause study or general background information. Your willingness to take the information to the office shows that you are very interested in the issue and it will get special attention. The Grassroots Department can help provide information for you. Public events, fairs, etc. During congressional recesses, most legislators return to their home districts to find out constituents' views on the issues. At this time, they will typically speak to local civic or professional groups; attend fairs, dedications or graduations; or conduct open district town meetings. Take advantage of this opportunity by finding out where the legislator will be and meeting him or her there to ask for support for your issue. Although these opportunities often do not allow for an extensive discussion of the issue, the legislator is much more alert to the importance of the issue to his or her constituents if he or she has been publicly asked to outline his position. A subsidiary benefit of questioning a legislator publicly is that the rest of the audience, often including the press, also becomes more aware of your issue. You can contact the legislator's local office to find out when and where he or she will be in the district. ---------- REACHING NEW AUDIENCES AND BUILDING COALITIONS _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ SPEAKING OUT IN YOUR COMMUNITY _________________________________________________________________ Offering to speak about Common Cause or one of our issues is an excellent way to reach out politically to your community. Through organized speaking efforts you can distribute information about issues that are currently on the Common Cause agenda. You can also provide your audience with an introduction to Common Cause and show them how they can become citizen lobbyists. You can offer to speak to community groups, religious groups, local schools or universities, senior citizen clubs or any other organization that invites speakers. If you are planning to speak on a specific issue currently in the Congress, contact the Grassroots Department at the national office -- 202-833-1200 -- for up-to-date information on the issue and the latest position of your elected officials on the issue. Tips for successful speaking engagements o Make it known to people in your community that you are prepared to speak before groups about Common Cause or the issues on which we work. The local Chamber of Commerce often keeps a list of social, professional, civic and religious groups in the community. You may get this list and inform the appropriate groups that you are available to speak to them. A notice in the local paper saying that a speaker from Common Cause is available may also elicit invitations. o Be informed about Common Cause, its origin, purpose, size, history and issue agenda. Know the status of issues currently on the agenda. Updated organizational and issues material is available from the national or state office. o Talk to a representative from the group before the speaking engagement to get a sense of the topic you are expected to address, the expected size of the audience, the format for the meeting, and how long you are expected to speak. o Know the nature of the group you are addressing. Refer, when possible, to the organization and individuals in it to enhance audience interest. Keep your remarks informative and brief. o Be prepared to answer questions. Find out, if possible, which questions frequently arise and be prepared to address those. o For your own preparation, learn opposing points of view. This information can help give you a better grasp of the pros and cons of the issues and better equip you to answer questions. o Bring membership brochures, and any special materials Common Cause has produced on the issue. If you are speaking to a university group, also bring brochures on internships with Common Cause. (Again, call 202-833-1200 and ask for the Grassroots Department if you need materials.) o Suggest specific action for those in the audience who agree with your message to take -- write to your representative today, join Common Cause. Get names, addresses and phone numbers of audience members who want to be more active. Although they may not be members of Common Cause, you can call on them to help on future actions on our issues. _________________________________________________________________ BUILDING COALITIONS _________________________________________________________________ A coalition may be an informal arrangement among representatives of various groups united by a common position on a single issue, an on-going network of groups that share a similar approach on several issues, or a formal agreement among groups that develop a separate identity -- perhaps even with dues from each group, letterhead and staff. Common Causes traditional approach to working with coalitions is not one based on formal membership in a coalition, but rather one which involves close cooperation in terms of information-sharing; attending meetings; participation, when appropriate and consistent with our position, in joint activities such as coalition letters and news conferences; and utilization of our organizational resources where they will be most effective. This approach enables us to add our strengths to those of other organizations while, at the same time, ensuring our ability to keep our own positions on issues clear and to avoid being identified with any positions we have not taken. A coalition effort may simply involve sending a joint letter from several groups to your representative on an issue of mutual concern. Such an effort is an effective way to show broad support for an issue in the district or state. A coalition effort can also be more developed with regular meetings of the organizations involved and the use of more sophisticated techniques such as joint press conferences. But whatever the effort involves, a coalition should be as broad as possible to show wide support for an issue. Natural allies should be sought in building coalitions, but imagination can produce new allies to support an issue. An issue that can unite unlikely allies -- e.g., conservatives and liberals -makes a powerful statement that the issue is of broad public concern. Effective coalition building will go through at least three stages. You need to identify individuals and organizations beyond the Common Cause community who want to be involved in a joint effort on the issue. Second, you need to familiarize these activists with each other, with the substance of the issue, and with the goals of the campaign. Third, you need to activate coalitions with specific tasks that help develop and solidify a sense of collective action while using early skirmishes as training grounds for a sustained coalition effort. The first step in building a coalition is to try to identify any local groups that might share your concern about the issue around which you are organizing. Contact state and local counterparts of national groups that are working with Common Cause in Washington on the issue. However, do not ignore a local group because its national organization has not yet taken a stand on the issue -- in many organizations the local chapter can decide its own stand on national issues. Also search out local groups which are not affiliated with a national organization -- neighborhood groups or civic associations. Common Cause has an organizational philosophy of "no permanent allies and no permanent enemies." Do not hesitate to contact organizations we have opposed in the past on other issues but which may share a common interest in our current battle. Make it a priority to approach groups who you know have influence in your community or with your legislator. If the organization cannot join the coalition, see if it will communicate on its own with the legislator or if interested individuals in the group will take some personal action on the issue. Establish which person from each organization will be the contact person with the coalition. This person would attend coalition meetings, clear joint actions of the coalition with his or her own organization, and help motivate his or her organization to commit additional attention to the lobbying effort. Different groups have varied resources to devote to a coalition effort. These resources may reflect intensity of interest in the issue or other demands on the organization's people and funds. The coalition should prepare specific tasks and activities in which groups can become involved, making it easier for groups to take part in activities at a level their resources permit. Such activities include: joint letters or visits to the legislator; joint public statements or press releases; organizing phone banks or letter writing campaigns; writing and distributing leaflets; sponsoring public forums or reaching out to still more groups and individuals to be involved in the lobbying effort. Organizations which are not interested or able to lobby actively may still be able and willing to educate and activate their members through meetings and newsletters. Overall principles for successful coalitions o Make sure that every group and individual who is part of the coalition effort agrees to some basic understandings about coalition activities. o A coalition needs to have a common understanding of the issue and shared goals, yet must have the flexibility to accommodate political and organizational differences. Clearly define and state the purpose and goal of the coalition. No one is empowered to speak for the coalition on issues not previously agreed upon. Each organization is free to speak for itself outside the coalition activity. o It takes a great deal of personal contact to build a coalition. Face-to-face or direct telephone contact helps more clearly to develop a shared understanding of goals and strategy. Personal contact helps develop the personal relationships that build trust, and fun, among coalition members. o A coalition needs leadership, but not domination. Common Cause activists, for instance, will likely be the most vested in the campaign finance reform issue, but we need to make sure that we invite full and real participation by other groups and individuals. This gives those other groups a greater stake in the issue, broadens the issue's base of support and energizes a greater pool of activists. Similarly, on other issues Common Cause may not be the lead group in a coalition but, to be an effective participant in the coalition activity, should make clear what commitments it can make to the issue and should be responsible in fulfilling those commitments. o A group of individuals or organizations talking about the problem is not a coalition. A coalition starts to think of itself as such through common experiences and joint actions. A coalition needs regularly to develop specific approaches, strategies and time lines that are action-oriented. Spread credit and praise for those who complete coalition tasks. A coalition may face difficult decisions and tensions -- it is important to create a positive climate and an understanding that groups are willing to cooperate to achieve a common goal. _________________________________________________________________ OTHER ACTIVITIES TO REACH NEW AUDIENCES _________________________________________________________________ o Set up a table to hand out literature on Common Cause at your local shopping center, community fairs, political forums, town meetings or other community events. Materials available from the national office which provide information on the organization or our issues include issue pamphlets and flyers, membership brochures and citizen action guides. o Circulate petitions or an open letter to your legislator. Make these petitions or letters available at fairs, shopping centers, town meetings and other community events. Asking citizens to sign these letters and petitions is an excellent way to introduce yourself as a member of Common Cause and generates interest in the issue. A document with a large number of constituent signatures will also have an impact on your legislator. o Organize a coffee party or meeting in your home and invite local members of Common Cause. Ask each member to bring along a friend or neighbor who is not a member of Common Cause. Enlist their assistance in lobbying your legislator. Neighborhood meetings should be informational but, most importantly, result in some kind of action. Have a supply of writing paper, envelopes, and stamps and at the close of the meeting ask each attendee to write a letter to his or her legislator. Also, distribute current information about Common Cause and membership brochures to meeting attendees and invite them to join. o Post Common Cause brochures or other current material on bulletin boards at your place of worship, supermarket, local college campuses, apartment building and other public locations. o Use Common Cause Magazine to spread the word to others by leaving a copy of the magazine in the waiting room at professional offices. Bring a copy of the magazine into your local library or university library and ask them to put it out for the public to read. Place a copy in the magazine holder in front of your seat on an airplane or train. There are a number of other locations in your community to leave a copy of the magazine -- be creative. You can request additional copies of the magazine from the national office. ---------- Definitions of significant words and concepts in the areas of campaign finance reform and ethics in government. _________________________________________________________________ Buckley v. Valeo Buckley v. Valeo is the landmark 1976 Supreme Court decision on campaign finance law. The Supreme Court upheld the disclosure requirements in the law, the contribution limits, and the provision for public funding of presidential election campaigns. The Court found that: "To the extent that large contributions are given to secure a political quid pro quo from current and potential office holders, the integrity of our system of representative democracy is undermined." The Court struck down the spending limits in the law -- except when there are voluntary limits as part of a public financing scheme, as in the presidential campaign finance system. The ruling affected the limits on spending by congressional candidates (the law did not include public financing for congressional races), on independent expenditures and on the amount of personal wealth that a candidate spends on his or her own campaign. The Court also struck down the mechanism for appointing members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). In 1976, Congress established a new appointment process for the FEC. [text of Buckley v. Valeo decision] _________________________________________________________________ Bundling "Bundling" is when an individual or an entity gathers together separate campaign contributions from many sources and delivers them together -- in a bundle -- to a particular candidate. It is a problem because it is a way for the bundler to evade the contribution limits. For instance, a PAC can give only $5,000 to a candidate for a particular election. But suppose agents of the PAC go around to a number of individuals and collect separate checks for $1,000 made payable to the candidate from each individual. Assume that the PAC collects 50 of these checks. It then provides these checks in a bundle to the candidate and gets the credit for delivering a $50,000 contribution -- far in excess of the PACs contribution limit. The same is true for an individual such as a lobbyist who gathers together many separate checks from different individuals and delivers them -- or arranges for them to be delivered -- to a candidate. Bundling thus is harmful because it is a way around the contribution limits for both individuals and PACs. It allows individuals and PACs to get credit from candidates for delivering the kind of big money that the contribution limits are intended to deter. As The New York Times has said, "By assembling checks and then sheaving them together as one huge gift to favored candidates, corporations and industry PACs now easily evade limits on campaign contributions." _________________________________________________________________ Congressional Campaign Finance System There are no spending limits or public financing in congressional campaigns. Congressional candidates are subject to the same contribution limits and disclosure requirements as presidential candidates. BACK _________________________________________________________________ Contribution Limits Federal campaign finance law limits the amounts individuals and groups may contribute to candidates, PACs or political parties. Corporations and labor unions are prohibited from making contributions or expenditures to influence federal elections. They are allowed to use their own funds to establish and administer PACs in order to make contributions and expenditures. The chart below shows how the limits apply to the various participants in a federal election: To a candidate or candidate committee per election To a national party committee per calendar year To any other political committee per calendar year* Total per calendar year Individual may give: $1,000 $20,000 $5,000 $25,000 Political Action Committee+ may give: $5,000 $15,000 $5,000 No limit Other political committee may give: $1,000 $20,000 $5,000 No limit * Exception: if a contributor gives to a committee knowing that a substantial portion of the contribution will be used to support a particular candidate, then the contribution counts against the donor's limit for that candidate (first column on the chart). + Limits apply to any PAC with more than 50 contributors which has been registered for at least six months and has made contributions to 5 or more candidates for federal office. Source: Federal Election Commission _________________________________________________________________ Filibuster/Cloture "Filibuster" is an informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions, or by any other delaying or obstructive actions. In the past, Senators had to actually stand on the Senate floor and speak for the filibuster to continue. But in recent years, Senate rules, in effect, allow a Senator simply to declare his intention to filibuster. A filibuster can be stopped by "invoking cloture" -- the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill and thereby end a filibuster. Invoking cloture requires an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Senators (60 votes when there are no vacancies). _________________________________________________________________ Independent Counsel In 1978, as part of the Ethics in Government Act, Congress established the process for independent counsel investigations of allegations against certain high-level executive branch officials. (28 USC 591) When allegations are brought to the attention of the Department of Justice, a two-step investigatory process is followed, leading to the Attorney General applying to a three-judge panel for appointment of an independent counsel if the charges appear to reach a threshold level of credibility. The law is designed to ensure that there is a credible system for holding the highest-level officials in the executive branch accountable for criminal wrongdoing. The Independent Counsel statute flowed directly from the Watergate scandal. In that scandal, those officials most entrusted with enforcing the law faced allegations of violating it -- the Attorney General, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the President of the United States himself. As Archibald Cox, the first Watergate Special Prosecutor, testified before the Senate: "The pressures, the tensions of divided loyalty are too much for any man, and as honorable and conscientious as any individual might be, the public could never feel entirely easy about the vigor and thoroughness with which the investigation was pursued. Some outside person is absolutely essential." BACK _________________________________________________________________ Independent Expenditures Independent expenditures are expenditures on behalf of or against a candidate which are not coordinated with a candidate. For example, an auto dealers' PAC might spend $50,000 on TV ads critical of a candidate's stand on import restrictions and urge a vote against that candidate. Like personal wealth, the Supreme Court has ruled that spending in support of or in opposition to a candidate that is not coordinated with any candidate cannot be limited. Such "independent expenditures" can be made by either individuals or PACs. Thus, while individuals and PACs are limited in the amount they can contribute directly to a campaign, they are not limited in the amount they can spend for a campaign, so long as it is spent without coordination or consultation with any campaign. _________________________________________________________________ Issue Advocacy/Express Advocacy Political ads which urge the viewer to "vote for" or "vote against" a candidate are examples of express advocacy and must be paid for from contributions which come under the restrictions of federal campaign finance laws, including prohibitions on contributions by corporations or labor unions. Advertising campaigns discussing issues -- and not directly advocating the defeat or election of a candidate -- are not subject to federal campaign finance laws. Thus, these "issue advocacy" campaigns are not subject to limits on spending or contributions and are not required to disclose their contributions or expenditures. However, in the 1996 election, labor unions and corporations waged multimillion dollar campaigns in the districts and states of targeted congressional candidates. These campaigns were carried out under the guise of issue advocacy even though the ads criticized a named candidate in hostile terms clearly meant to influence the election. Because a series of court decisions have defined broadly what constitutes "issue advocacy", spending in this form may become a significant new loophole for evading the campaign finance laws. _________________________________________________________________ Lobbyist Lobbying, or attempting to influence the policymaking of government, is a right under the U.S. Constitution. Article I of the Bill of Rights declares "the right of the people ... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." While lobbying is a right, the practice of special-interest lobbying in Washington and the state capitals has developed into a system of using money to gain access and influence to powerful public officials. The Lobbyist Disclosure Act of 1995 requires persons lobbying Congress or the executive branch to register and to disclose their expenses and the issues they are lobbying on. The Act defines a lobbyist as "any individual who is employed or retained by a client for financial or other compensation for services that include more than one lobbying contact, other than an individual whose lobbying activities constitute less than 20 percent of the time engaged in the services provided by such individual to that client over a six-month period." _________________________________________________________________ Political Action Committee (PAC) PACs are political committees that make contributions to candidates and engage in other election-related activities but are not the official committees of particular candidates or political parties. Some PACs are affiliated with corporations, labor unions, or other sponsoring organizations which provide the PACs with administrative expenses. Employees or members of the sponsoring organizations may contribute to PACs, but the corporations and labor unions are prohibited from contributing their own treasury funds to their PAC. Other PACs are independent of any sponsoring organization. Additionally, some Members of Congress have formed their own PACs, separate from their candidate committees, allowing them to accept and dole out larger contributions than they can through their own candidate committee. Nearly all PACs have specific legislative agendas. Special-interest PACs are a dominant force in the financing of congressional campaigns and their contributions are heavily tilted to incumbents. Their numbers and influence are growing: in 1976 there were 608 PACs, 20 years later, in 1996, there are more than 4,000 PACs. BACK _________________________________________________________________ Presidential Campaign Finance System The presidential campaign finance system was a landmark reform coming in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The system provides candidates with public funds if they agree to voluntary spending limits. In the 1996 general election, the two major party candidates received $62 million each after agreeing not to raise or spend any private money. In the primaries, candidates received matching federal funds for any contribution up to $250 if they agree to the spending limit; in the 1996 election the spending limit was $37 million. Presidential campaigns are covered by the same contribution limits and disclosure requirements as congressional candidates. BACK _________________________________________________________________ Public Financing/Public Resources A critical element of campaign finance reform is to ensure that candidates, especially challengers, have sufficient resources to run viable campaigns. There are various ways to accomplish this goal. In the presidential campaign finance system, candidates in the primaries receive matching funds for every $250 contribution if they agree to spending limits; in the general election, the candidates may receive a grant of public funds if they agree not to raise or spend any private money. The presidential system is funded by the voluntary $3 tax checkoff on federal income tax forms. The congressional campaign finance system does not include provisions for public financing. Reform advocates have proposed some alternative resources as part of overall reform of the congressional system. These resources could include free and reduced rate television and radio time, and reduced rate postage. These measures would reduce fundraising pressure by reducing the candidate's costs for communicating with voters. _________________________________________________________________ Soft Money Soft money is a loophole that has developed in recent years to provide candidates, contributors and political parties a means to evade federal contribution limits. "Soft" money is money that is illegal under federal law -- it either violates federal source restrictions (such as money from corporations) or federal limits (such as large contributions from individuals in amounts often exceeding $100,000). Federal law prohibits corporations and labor unions from contributing any money to federal campaigns. Federal law also limits an individual to contributing no more than $1,000 to a federal candidate per election, and no more than $20,000 to a political party per year. To evade these restrictions, soft money contributions are given by individuals, corporations, unions or others directly to designated non-federal accounts of the national political parties. The national party committees spend the money directly or through state parties on activities such as voter registration drives or get-out-the-vote drives that benefit candidates in federal elections. In the 1996 election, soft money paid for so-called issue ads intended to influence the presidential election. Thus, the soft money contributions are laundered through the political parties in a way that allows federally illegal money to nonetheless be used to influence federal elections. Soft money is a scandal. This loophole has given a rebirth to the kinds of huge individual and corporate contributions in the political process that have not been seen since Watergate. BACK _________________________________________________________________ Spectrum/Free TV According to the Congressional Budget Office, "the radio 'spectrum' does not exist as a physical object; rather, it is a conceptual tool used to organize and map a set of physical phenomena. Electric and magnetic fields produce waves that move through space at different frequencies, and the set of all possible frequencies is called the electromagnetic spectrum." The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum which is usable for radio and television transmission is about one percent of the total spectrum. The rest includes visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma-ray waves. The airwaves are owned by the public. Television broadcasters receive a license to use and profit from the publics airwaves. Congress has the power to condition that license on the broadcasters agreement to public interest obligations, including providing a reasonable amount of air time at free or reduced rates for the sake of improving the political process. BACK _________________________________________________________________ Spending Limits There are no limits on spending by congressional candidates. In presidential campaigns, candidates may agree to voluntary spending limits and in return receive public funding for their campaigns. In the presidential primaries, candidates receive federal matching funds for contributions of $250 or less; the primary spending limit in 1996 was $37 million. In the general election, candidates' campaigns are funded entirely by public funds if they agree not to raise or spend any private campaign money; in 1996, the two major party presidential candidates each received $62 million. Under the Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo, spending limits must be voluntary. Candidates may be offered significant inducements of alternative resources if they abide by the spending limits. But candidates are free to refuse the alternative resources and ignore the spending limits. Copyright 1996, Common Cause .