TO: CVF-NEWS FROM: Kim Alexander, CVF President DATE: June 26, 2002 RE: "State Secrets" reveals soft money to state political parties
Hi Folks,
This week three of the nation's leading disclosure organizations released a joint investigation of campaign fundraising by state political parties.
The "State Secrets" study found that Democratic and Republican state party committees raised over half a billion dollars during the 2000 election, with nearly half of it coming in "soft money" transfers from national party committees.
As the report explains, "The transfers of unregulated soft money from federal party committees to their state counterparts confirm a commonly held perception that state parties are used to launder soft money and influence presidential and congressional elections in a way never envisioned nor intended by federal election law."
The study was produced by the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Responsive Politics, and the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Their research reveals weaknesses in state disclosure laws and underscores the need for more timely and standardized campaign finance disclosure, particularly in the wake of new changes to federal campaign finance laws that many predict will drive even more soft money to state political parties.
The full study is online at http://www.statesecrets.org, complete with numerous articles and an online database of 225 state party committees' contributions and expenditures. Be sure to check out the "Dispersion of Disclosure" article that describes how challenging it can be to "follow the money". Media inquiries can be directed to Leah Rush, lrush@publicintegrity.org.
Kudos to all the people who worked on this unprecedented investigation -- it was a monumental effort and truly helps shine a brighter light on the role of money in state and national politics.
-- Kim Alexander
 |
Back to CVF-NEWS index |
|
Subscribe to CVF-NEWS |
|
Contact Kim Alexander |
This page was first published on June 8, 2002 | Last updated on June 26, 2002
copyright 1994 - 2002, California Voter Foundation. All rights reserved.