There you go again, Fred…

September 9, 2009   •  By Jeff Patch
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As you wait for the release of oral arguments in Citizens United v. FEC, take a look at this post from the newly-launched blog of the Public Affairs Council, the Public Affairs Perspective.

It takes on the hyperbole of campaign finance “reformers” like Fred Wertheimer — “It’s not that the sky’s the limit,” says Wertheimer, “the universe is the limit.” — head-on, and explains why their Chicken Little rantings about the possible impact of corporate spending on campaigns is overblown:

When big corporations were given the chance to fund issue advertising through 527 organizations, campaign finance watchdogs expected a huge influx of corporate dollars into these groups. But the vast majority of companies stayed away. In fact, according to the Campaign Finance Institute, only 2 percentof the contributions to federal 527s in 2007 came from businesses.

Companies aren’t in the business of stirring up trouble, which is what often happens when you tackle issues in a public way through political advertising. Very few CEOs are willing to risk the ire of employees, shareholders, customers and others who might disagree with a hard-hitting issue-oriented commercial. If they feel strongly about an issue and want to take to the airwaves, companies are far more likely to support advertising by a trade or business association.

No company has any extra money to spend on advertising these days anyway. And that situation isn’t going to change for awhile.

Hans A. von Spakovsky has more on the hyperbole of reformers, particularly E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post, here.

Jeff Patch

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