The Florida legislature is considering HB 699. It would ban large donations from individuals to petition campaigns for state initiatives. It is likely to receive a vote in the House soon.
The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that limits on campaign donations can only be upheld if they are for the purpose of preventing bribery. Therefore, if this bill becomes law, it is likely to be held unconstitutional. One can’t bribe an initiative.
This is a terrible bill. The state legislature in Florida is really trying to kill the citizen’s initiative process there.
FL Fascists do not want ANY FL commie inits on ballots —
esp those commie LOOT the treasury inits — paid for by higher taxes on such FL fascists.
more –
thus bribe the Voters —
vote for init – get LOOT.
Same as vote for gerrymander HACK — get LOOT.
result – the de facto bankruptcy of ALL major regimes in the USA
— much worse in many foreign *socialist* regimes – esp in Europe.
Sooner or later, the precedent set by Citizens United will blow up campaign finance law, as it should.
IMO, Citizens United was a good ruling far beyond the benefit corporate donors may get from it. It attacks the fundamental weakness of campaign finance law: its blatant violation of the 1st Amendment.
SCOTUS hack morons were too evil stupid in 1974 to detect that there is NOOOO $$$ amount in the 1st Amdt.
Congress is too EVIL stupid — unable to tax *donations* to candidates as income — to reduce the FATAL USA national debt.
Sorry – media [TV, newspapers, etc] has to pay taxes on candidate attack ads.
@Walter Ziobro… Yet at the same time it is the very thing that permits corporatism to run amok… it’s exactly how corporations get politicians to pass laws that benefit themselves, oppress competitors, and oppress the public. Which leads to destroying small businesses and entrepreneurship, increasing poverty, which increases welfare, creates more crime, and more incarceration…. which in turn leads to tougher criminal laws, which causes more oppression (mandatory minimums, most companies don’t hire felons), which causes more inequality, which causes more divisiveness, which leads to social advocacy organizations (unions for public policy effectively), which creates group think and tribalism….. repeat. The only people that win are the ones with most money and the best lobbyists….. which results in a plutocratic oligarchy. Which is exactly where we are right now. Some kind of alternative to campaign funding is one of the major keys to actually bringing about a true republic again.