Campaign Finance Reform | Syracuse Journal of Law & Civic Engagement

NY Corruption and the Revolving Door

Last night, Rachel Maddow started her show by discussing New York State’s outrageous public corruption scandal. The scandal involves New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, New York City Council Member Daniel Halloran, and four others in an six count complain, which alleges bribery, extortion, and fraud charges.

State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, a former Democrat, allegedly paid off party bosses in order to get on the ballot in the New York City mayoral race as a Republican.

Aside from this blatant corruption, Maddow discussed subtler, routinecorruption–the revolving door between Washington and the private sector. As an example, Maddow noted former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Mary Schapir. Schapir, who was tasked with being Washington’s top bank regulator, recently took a job with a consulting firm which advises banks about compliance with SEC regulations.

The video (17:55) includes a brief introduction to the rest of the episode, and the relevant part of the story begins just under two minutes in.

For the FBI press release regarding New York State corruption scandal, click here.

David Strauss: “Campaign Finance First Principles”

University of Chicago Law Professor David Strauss discusses how an ideal democracy would regulate its elections. Strauss argues that the problem with American campaign finance laws stems from a fundamental distinction that the Supreme Court made in Buckley v. Valeo– between equality and corruption. Buckley held that the only legitimate end of campaign finance reforms laws was to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption. However, equalizing candidates ability to be influential is not a legitimate interest of campaign finance reform. The Court held that “the concept that government may restrict the speech of some [in] order to enhance the relative voice of others is wholly foreign to the First Amendment.”

Strauss says that this was the original sin of the Court’s campaign finance jurisprudence. “Equalization” is precisely what campaign finance reform law should do.

It is a law lecture that is 57:55 min.