The election business is becoming as dysfunctional an economy as the spending on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. I never thought I'd see the day allies could be roped into investing in huge amounts of money that achieved nothing, but, it happened. It is why the allies need to develop their own military on their own terms. Talk about corruption. And they carried it out with allies no less.
So, here we are again with the next latest and greatest dysfunctional economy by and for Republicans. I have my own ideas as to how this will play out. It is my estimation the GOP whom is happy and contrite about about this Supreme Court decision will be far more sorry when reality hits.
By ANNE GALLOWAY / VTDigger
POSTED: 04/03/2014 09:20:42 AM EDT
...Vermont Legislature (click here) approved new campaign finance rules this year as the McCutcheon case was under consideration. Lawmakers included an escape clause for a cap on aggregate limits in the law, pending the results of the case. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill into law early this session.
Act 90 puts an aggregate limit of $40,000 on contributions from "single sources" to candidates or parties. The McCutcheon ruling allows limitless contributions from an individual to candidates, PACs and parties.
Rep. Donna Sweaney, D-Windsor, chair of House Government Operations, which shaped the legislation, said the decision is very discouraging.
"I do believe money is the biggest factor in elections and it keeps piling up," Sweaney said. "The more money you have, the better your chances and the more people you know with money, the better your chances. It's a feeding frenzy I see in Washington."
Cheryl Hanna, a professor of constitutional law at the Vermont Law School, says lawmakers were wise to put a contingency plan in state statute.
"It was a good example of the state Legislature paying attention to what is happening in federal constitutional law and crafting a statute that would survive in this case was a well thought out strategy," Hanna said....
