Legislative Process/ How Money Effects Politic

HOW MONEY AFFECTS POLITICS

2006

Introduction

Part of the American system is the campaign and party financing which is especially relevant during elections . The money or the funding raised was said to have some influence in terms of political processes especially on what laws or policies are enacted or enforced (Office of Democracy and Governance 1 . Hence , it creates a scenario wherein these funds are used to indirectly influence what laws should be passed especially affecting the legislative process

This hopes to present first the to define what money in

politics is and the process involved in campaign financing . Second , it hopes to present to some extent how money influences law making . Finally this hopes to present its observations and conclusion on the subject matter

Money in Politics

Money in politics was defined by the Office of Democracy and Governance as funds used for electioneering and influencing political processes (Office of Democracy and Governance 1 . Campaign financing is one of those perceived to influence legislative process or what particular laws would be enacted to favor particular interests . The law in the United States provides that membership organizations , corporations and labor unions may create a so-called Political Action Committees (PACs ) to collect money from organization employees or members in to augment resources for campaign contributions (Smith 82 . In Smith 's book entitled , `The American Congress ' he explains that because of the fact that PACs may contribute more than individuals , there is an incentive to create PACs (82 . However , it was observed that individuals contribute larger sums to parties than to PACs and also parties may contribute larger sums directly to candidates than can PACs (Smith 82 . Aside from this , the law expressly emphasizes that there must be public disclosure of contributions and expenditures by candidates , parties and PACs which must be contained in a report (Smith 82 . Despite these safeguards for campaign funding and spending , Smith comments that the law has many loopholes , citing for instance that the law is not able to regulate soft money contributions ' or those contributed by wealthy individuals and corporations to political parties to be used for television ads for the party , party staff and office expenses , voter registration and get out the votes efforts and other purposes obviously to benefit the party 's candidate (82 . Hence , as Smith explained , this allows individuals and PACs that have reached their limit in direct contributions to a candidates campaign to contribute money to a party organization that can work on the candidate 's behalf (82

On the otherhand , Rockwell and Woll in the book entitled `American Government : Competition and Compromise ' they explain that the current campaign finance system is a compromise among the competing sets of beliefs and values about the place of money in the political system (Rockwell and Woll 106 . Hence , they say that those who believe that money corrupts politics and those who believe money is a legitimate means of participating in and influencing the political system , lies a maze of PACs...