"The Buying of the President 2008", a new serial report by The Center for Public Integrity

The Center for Public Integrity has released a report titled "The Buying of the President 2008". They will release a new chapter every month in five parts over the course of a week. The first month's chapter is now coming online.

Every four years, the Center’s The Buying of the President investigates how money shapes presidential campaigns. The 2008 edition explores the roles that money and special interests play in presidential politics — a behind-the-scenes examination of everything from how the major candidates and their parties raise money to the ins and outs of opposition research and the spoils that go with a term in the Oval Office.

The web site, www.buyingofthepresident.org, is just one of many reports published and online at CPI. Check them out, for in-depth research on critical government reform issues.

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A look at clean elections in action

Candidates, and ultimately voters, are already enjoying clean elections in Maine. The first state in the nation to bring this campaign finance reform to state offices, it has been successfully administered since 1996. This local newspaper story is about a current state representative candidate- what qualifies him for the program, and how he is free from big money from special interests as reflected by his campaign issues and work.

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Financial contributions by both Clinton and Obama to Democratic superdelegates have results

The Center for Responsive Politics has published a report entitled "Seeking Superdelegates". It is a powerful analysis of the influence financial contributions to them by Democratic presidential candidates Clinton and Obama is. From Capital Eye, the Center's newsletter:

" Obama, who narrowly leads in the count of pledged, "non-super" delegates, has doled out more than $698,200 to superdelegates from his political action committee, Hope Fund, or campaign committee since 2005. Of the 82 elected officials who had announced as of Feb. 12 that their superdelegate votes would go to the Illinois senator, 35, or 43 percent of this group, have received campaign contributions from him in the 2006 or 2008 election cycles, totaling $232,200. In addition, Obama has been endorsed by 52 superdelegates who haven't held elected office recently and, therefore, didn't receive campaign contributions from him.

Clinton does not appear to have been as openhanded. Her PAC, HILLPAC, and campaign committee appear to have distributed $205,500 to superdelegates. Only 12 percent of her elected superdelegates, or 13 of 109 who have said they will back her, have received campaign contributions, totaling about $95,000 since 2005. An additional 128 unelected superdelegates support Clinton, according to a blog tracking superdelegates and their endorsements, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch. "

A chart of all of the superdelegates who are public officials, both committed and not, and how much if any Obama and Clinton have given them since the 2005 election cycle breaks down the numbers.

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Study assesses each state's campaign disclosure laws and programs

Grading State Disclosure is a study of the Campaign Disclosure Project, which seeks to bring greater transparency and accountability to money in state politics through assessments of state disclosure laws and programs.

Some states provide better and more complete access to information about the money that fuels campaigns than others, through both a strong campaign disclosure law and high-quality Internet access to disclosure reports. The purpose of the Campaign Disclosure Project’s Grading State Disclosure 2007 study is to provide an overview of how each state measures up to a set standard for disclosure programs, as well as to show how each state compares to others around the country. Check how your state is doing!

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Speech! Speech! 2

I make a point of reading on a daily basis several political reform blogs; one in particular I like is the Public Campaign Action Fund blog-- it promotes Public Campaign's work for public financing of elections. Clean elections is indeed the solution to many of today's campaign ethics problems on the federal, state and other levels of government.

It's not common I commit a whole post to another person's post and comments, but since it includes a comment by yours truly, I wanted to share this one from Public Campaign's own, Kathy Schlieper.

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