CAMPAIGN FINANCE
PLAY IN GOVERNMENT?
Subjects:
Duration: 2-3 class sessions
Description: This lesson provides an overview of the American election finance process.
Goals:
ISBE Standards:
·
14A: Understand
and explain basic principles of the United States government.
·
14B: Understand
the structures and functions of the political systems of Illinois, the United
States and other nations.
·
14C: Understand
election processes and responsibilities of citizens.
·
14D: Understand
the roles and influences of individuals and interest groups in the political
systems of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
·
16A: Apply the
skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
·
16B: Understand
the development of significant political events.
2. Language Arts
· 1A: Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.
· 1B: Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.
· 1C: Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
· 3A: Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and structure.
· 3B: Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.
· 3C: Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
· 4A: Listen effectively in formal and informal situations.
· 4B: Speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.
3.
Mathematics
· 7C: Select and use appropriate technology, instruments and formulas to solve problems, interpret results, and communicate findings.
· 8B: Interpret and describe numerical relationships using tables, graphs, and symbols.
· 8C: Solve problems using systems of numbers and their properties.
8D: Use algebraic concepts and procedures to represent and solve problems.
1. Understand the basic history of the American campaign finance system;
2. Experience a class presidential campaign involving campaign finance issues;
3. Identify the positive aspects and flaws of the American campaign finance system; and
4. Identify possible improvements to the American campaign finance system.
Materials:
1. Paper
2. Pens
3. Monopoly or other fake money
Instruction and Activities:
Money and American politics have long been intertwined. Congress has attempted to pass legislation to regulate the ways that individuals and groups may give and spend money during campaigns since the 1840’s, with only sporadic success. One of the most revered reformers of the American presidency, Teddy Roosevelt, openly solicited two of the country’s richest men, E.H. Harriman and Harry C. Frick, for campaign donations before a State of the Union address. To avoid the resulting political problems, Roosevelt helped spearhead the Tillman Act, which banned corporations from making contributions to any candidate for federal political office, a law that still stands. Later, the Hatch Act of 1939 closed a lucrative loophole by prohibiting federal employees from engaging in political activity, as federal employees had for many years solicited campaign contributions from those they regulated.
Q: Why do candidates need to raise money at all?
A: Running a campaign can be costly. Everything costs money. Candidates must
pay for all costs related to their campaigns from buttons and bumper stickers to postage, to stationary, to phone bills, to travel expenses. Throughout the rise of television as a popular medium, the demands for political money have skyrocketed. In the 1956 elections, total campaign spending for all candidates was approximately $155 million. In 1968, overall spending jumped to $300 million with a six-fold increase in television advertisement spending. In today’s national elections, it is not uncommon for one single powerful candidate to raise over $200 million by himself. Campaign financing becomes a race between candidates who don’t want to lose because they were out-spent by their opponent.
Q: What is the campaign finance process?
A: For many people, the process is simple and straightforward. First, they find a candidate or party that they support. In order to demonstrate their support, they contribute money to the individual’s campaign for election or reelection, or they donate to the party.
For other individuals, money equals power. These individuals and groups support candidates with their money. In return, those individuals and groups expect that the candidate will hear their voices, and that the candidate will act with the wishes of his/her supporters. When you hear people talk about the “lobbyists” and “special interest groups” running government, they are talking about individuals and groups who court politicians with money. In turn, it is widely believed that these individuals and groups wield an inordinate amount of power in government. “Money talks,” so to speak.
Q: Do you see any problems with the campaign finance process as it has been described to you?
A: * People and groups with money have the political power to accomplish
goals, but poor people do not have as much of a voice;
* Government officials who are supposed to be working for all of their constituents might only work for the few individuals and groups that helped them get elected;
Q: What are the positive aspects of the campaign finance process as it has been described to you so far?
A: The United States Supreme Court has held that many forms of political spending
are considered political speech – one of the most highly regarded forms of protected speech under the First Amendment. Political speech is seen as essential for a democracy to function properly. In its purest form, an individual speaks with his/her money by spending it to support a candidate or political party.
1. Students will conduct a mock election within the classroom. Pick three candidates to run for classroom president.
2. Divide the rest of the class into categories: average citizen; different types of large corporations – pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, manufacturing companies, construction firms, banks, etc.; unions; advocates for the poor and other special interest groups; retired persons; trial lawyers; and doctors.
3. Each candidate must prepare and give a two-minute stump speech on why s/he wants to be classroom president, and why s/he would be good at the job.
4. Make a chart of different types of campaign costs, and how much each is generally worth for a strong candidate. For example:
Mailings -- $5,000
Travel -- $20,000
Buttons/Bumper Stickers -- $2,000
Yard Signs -- $2,000
Phone Bills -- $20,000
Television Advertising -- $5,500 per 30-second prime-time slot
Radio Advertising -- $1,000 per 15-second prime-time slot
Other
5. Each candidate will start off with $1,000 in campaign funds given to them by the government. The different categories of classmates will have the following to spend on candidates:
All large corporations -- anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000 depending on how the teacher divides the money;
Average citizen -- $500;
Unions -- anywhere from $5,000 to $75,000 depending on how the teacher divides the money;
Advocates for the poor and other special interest groups -- $1,000;
Retired persons -- $90,000;
Trial Lawyers -- $95,000;
Doctors -- $95,000.
6. The candidates now have to solicit their classmates both for votes, and for more campaign money. The classmates should donate their money as they see fit to the candidate whom they believe will support their views the best.
7. At the end of the time allotted for solicitation, candidates should count their money and determine how they will best and most effectively spend that money according to the campaign costs chart.
8. The candidates’ classmates now have to change hats to become average citizens. What would affect their votes? What would make them vote for a particular candidate?
9. Each candidate must prepare a three-minute stump speech on why s/he should be elected classroom president, and how s/he will serve the class. Did the candidates’ opinions change based on who gave them money, and what promises they made in order to get that campaign money? Did the candidates stay true to their original platforms? Did the candidates pay attention to the “average citizens” as much as the big-dollar donors?
10. The class should now take a vote for classroom president. Each student should be voting as an average citizen. Who won? Why? Did the campaign money have any affect on the election?
11. If students saw that money had an affect on the election, do they think that it is right? If not, what would they do to fix the problem?
Congress has attempted different forms of regulation of campaign donations and spending since the 1840’s to counter the problems that the students discovered in the Activity. Some significant limitations on campaign contributions and fundraising have come in the following forms:
· prohibition preventing corporations from making contributions to candidates for federal office;
· prohibition preventing federal employees from soliciting campaign contributions from individuals and groups that they regulate;
· prohibition preventing trade and labor unions from directly contributing to federal political campaigns (as a result, unions, corporations, and other interest groups began forming “political action committees” – the union donates to the political action committee, which then donates to the political campaign);
· mandates for strict public disclosure procedures for contributions to federal candidates and political committees;
· limitations on the amounts individuals can contribute to federal campaigns;
· creation of an optional program of full public financing for presidential general election campaigns and public matching subsidies for presidential primary campaigns if candidates accept certain spending limitations;
· restrictions on the amounts an individual could donate to a political action committee;
· restrictions on the amounts that a political action committee could donate to a campaign and a party (these restrictions cause an exponential growth in the number of political action committees so that more money was spread out between more PAC’s, and more could be contributed as a whole to campaigns and parties);
· limitations on “soft money” – money that is not raised under federal contribution limits that party committees can use to spend on administrative and other non-regulated activities.
· regulations on the use of soft money to purchase “issue ads” – advertising that are candidate and issue specific, but do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a particular federal candidate (until this regulation was passed in 2002, PAC’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars in soft money that could legally be used for issue ads that had a great deal of affect on national elections).
While the above-listed limitation and regulations on campaign finance rules seem to be comprehensive and strict, individuals and groups have continued to search and find loopholes that permit them to legally collect large amounts of unregulated campaign money outside of the law.
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Citizen Advocacy Center. All rights
reserved. No part of this lesson plan
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior, written permission
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