Since the "Citizens United" ruling overturned limits on fund-raising, the real campaign-finance battles can be found in statehouses, not Washington, D.C. So far this year, lawmakers in at least 18 states have introduced legislation to change the amount of money people can give politicians. Half the bills aim to increase contribution limits in attempts to keep pace with the rising number of outside forces that can spend unlimited amounts of cash. The other half try to decrease the limits to blunt the amount of money in politics.
From the Center for Public Integrity:
Read Full Article »When it comes to political money, national-level political organizations also see statehouses and city councils as the real battleground for change. Bills here — unlike at the federal level — sometimes move through chambers with relative ease and bipartisan support. …
Only two of the 30 bills introduced in Congress that pertain to money in politics — both sponsored by Republicans — have even been formally debated.
At the local and state levels, by contrast, more sweeping money-in-politics experiments, such as public financing of political campaigns, are succeeding.
