Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Fearful corporations will spend heavily this election in the wake of a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling, House Democrats are offering to exempt the National Rifle Association (NRA) from a broad campaign-finance bill. The controversial move, which may not sit well with the party’s liberal wing, does not yet clear the way for the legislation to pass, as several other key interest groups still are not supporting it. The carefully-worded amendment does not exempt some other high-profile groups, such as the Sierra Club and the National Right to Life Committee.
The campaign finance plan is designed to make up for the loss of contribution limits that were tossed out by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That case lifted ceilings on donations from corporations and unions seeking to campaign for or against candidates. Instead of trying to restore those ceilings, Democrats want to require special-interest groups to disclose their top donors if they run campaign commercials or send out mass mailings during an election.
Unable to win over conservative Democrats, House leaders came up with the idea to exempt the NRA from the plan in order to garner more support. The NRA is unlikely to endorse the bill, but it may not lobby against it if the exemption is included in the final draft.
The actual wording of the proposed amendment does not mention the NRA specifically, but rather exempts from disclosure requirements any organization that has more than one million dues-paying members, a presence in all U.S. states, has existed for at least 10 years, and derives no more than 15 percent of its funding from corporate or union sources.
These characteristics prevent exemptions for other groups, both conservative and liberal. For example, the National Right to Life Committee does not qualify because its 50 state organizations are incorporated separately and thus do not meet the membership minimum. Likewise, the Sierra Club fails to qualify because it only has 750,000 members.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Dems Close to Campaign Finance Deal (by John Bresnahan, Politico)
House Leaders Strike Deal with NRA on DISCLOSE Act (by Tory Newmyer, CQ-Roll Call)
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