COORDINATION IS CORRUPTION: AN ARGUMENT FOR THE REGULATION OF COORDINATED ISSUE ADVOCACY UNDER CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW

This Comment analyzes the regulability of coordinated issue advocacy. This topic was brought into the spotlight following the Wisconsin Supreme Court's July 2015 decision in State ex rel. Two Unnamed Petitioners v. Peterson, which held that coordinated issue advocacy could not be regulated unde...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emory law journal 2017-01, Vol.66 (6)
Main Author: Schwarzenbart, Amanda R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Bills
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002-US
Coordination
Corruption
Elections
Law
Legislators
Menendez, Robert
Nonprofit organizations
Offenses
Political advertising
Political finance
Public finance
Speech
Supreme courts
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Summary:This Comment analyzes the regulability of coordinated issue advocacy. This topic was brought into the spotlight following the Wisconsin Supreme Court's July 2015 decision in State ex rel. Two Unnamed Petitioners v. Peterson, which held that coordinated issue advocacy could not be regulated under state campaign finance law. The Peterson decision is not the end of the debate, but rather the beginning. This Comment takes a common-sense approach in arguing for the regulability of coordinated issue advocacy. This approach appeals to the experience of most Americans today, who frequently encounter campaign advertisements during elections. To bolster the common-sense approach, this Comment reviews instances of political scandal related to issue advocacy, such as those involving Senator Alan Cranston and Senator Robert Menendez. It also analyzes the federal courts' limited ventures into defining regulable campaign speech, which reinforce the government's interest in regulating coordination. This Comment further analogizes to other areas of law, such as bribery and anti-gratuity regulations, to better understand the policy concerns underlying regulable conduct by politicians. Campaign finance law has been a source of controversy for years. Despite significant scholarship concerning campaign finance law in general, very little attention has been paid to the regulability of coordinated speech in conjunction with issue advocacy. This Comment concludes that coordinated issue advocacy should be regulable. Coordination alone is enough to lead to corruptive influence or its appearance, regardless of a communication's content.
ISSN:0094-4076
2163-324X