The Supreme Court struck down a key component of campaign finance reform on Thursday, the so-called “Millionaire’s Amendment.”
In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled the amendment violates the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Under the Millionaire’s Amendment, candidates were allowed to receive larger contributions from donors when wealthy opponents dipped into their personal fortunes.
So who does this help? Extremely wealthy candidates, who disproportionately are Republicans, of course:
Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-07 vs. Don Cravins, Jr.)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (FL-13 vs. Christine Jennings)
Rep. Robin Hayes (NC-08 vs. Larry Kissell)Lou Barletta (PA-11 vs. Paul Kanjorski)
Susan Bitter-Smith and Dave Schweikert (AZ-05 vs. Rep. Harry Mitchell)
Jeb Bradley (NH-01 vs. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter)
Bill Dew (UT-02 vs. Jim Matheson)
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (NC-Sen vs. Kay Hagan)
Mike Erickson (OR-05 vs. Kurt Schrader)
Keith Fimian (VA-11 vs. Gerry Connelly)
Chris Gorman (if he wins LA-04 primary vs. Paul Carmouche)
Steve Greenberg (IL-08 vs. Melissa Bean)
Chris Hackett (PA-10 vs. Chris Carney)
Richard Hanna (NY-24 vs. Mike Arcuri)
Chris Lee (NY-26 vs. Dem candidate)
Jay Love (AL-02 vs. Bobby Bright)
Marty Ozinga (IL-11 vs. Debbie Halvorson)
Steve Pearce (NM-Sen vs. Steve Pearce)
Jim Risch (ID-Sen vs. Larry LaRocco)
Tom Rooney and Hal Valeche (FL-16 primary vs. Rep. Tim Mahoney)
Sen. Gordon Smith (OR-Sen vs. Jeff Merkley)
Mike Sodrel (IN-09 vs. Rep. Baron Hill)
Sandy Treadwell (NY-20 vs. Kirsten Gillibrand)
Dems helped by this decision: Jack Davis (NY-26), Bruce Lunsford (KY-Sen), Walt Minnick (ID-01), Michael Skelly (TX-07), Jared Polis (CO-02), Rep. Steve Kagen (WI-08), Parker Griffith (AL-05), and maybe Sen. Frank Lautenberg (NJ-Sen)
eh this was upsetting.
Throw everything you’ve got at McConnell!
I can’t think of another remedy.
I don’t see too many races on the list where, because of the other fundamentals, the extra money is likely to help the Republican challenger win (or do anything other than turn a 60-40 loss into a 55-45 loss). Maybe FL-16, if Rooney makes it out of the primary (same Rooney family that owns the Steelers, although I believe Rooney Sr. is an Obama backer), but Mahoney has been a fairly good fundraiser and I think he has his own wad of cash too.
I suppose this will help Robin Hayes with his defense… but I gotta wonder if paying a lot of family money to save his seat which will be deep in the minority is the best way to protect his family textile forture. Spending that money on a good Democratic lobbyist on trade issues might be a better use of the family money!
I wonder if the NRCC was actually counting on this ruling going down the way it did, which would explain their emphasis on recruiting self-funders last year. (Since that would actually require thinking a few steps ahead, though, it’s more likely that they turned to self-funders because they knew they would be broke in 2008.)
Millionaires dont seem to have a good record on winning races though. Look at this line from a CQ artical on the ruling:
“At least 24 House candidates have triggered the millionaires’ amendment this cycle. Of those, 10 remain active – while others either lost a primary or dropped out.”
Primary season is nowhere near over, but so far of the 24 men and women who triggered the amendment, more than half of them are gone, is not a good sign for them.
in TX-07. He will now be able to dip into his own pocket limitlessly without Culberson being able to raise extra.
What the fuck. How could it be that Souter voted with the majority?! I really hate the Supreme Court.
If someone wants to waste millions of their own money they can have at it. Actually I’d prefer someone spend their own money rather than massive donations from special interests.