Democracy Decoded

Joined by Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and a Republican Former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, host Simone Leeper breaks down the basics of America’s campaign finance system. At the root of their discussion is an examination of how illegal coordinated campaign spending occurs, and why it has not been properly addressed.

Trevor speaks about his appearances on the Colbert Report and discusses what has changed (or not changed) in campaign finance over the past ten years. He also reveals his fears that the current lack of transparency and outsized spending by special interests on our elections is leading to the disillusionment of American voters who feel they're not being heard - that their voices don't matter because somebody with a lot of money is able to simply buy the results they want.

Host and Guest:

Simone Leeper litigates a wide range of redistricting-related cases at CLC, challenging gerrymanders and advocating for election systems that guarantee all voters an equal opportunity to influence our democracy. Prior to arriving at CLC, Simone was a law clerk in the office of Senator Ed Markey and at the Library of Congress, Office of General Counsel. She received her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2019 and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University in 2016.

Trevor Potter is the founder and President of Campaign Legal Center. He is a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, and was General Counsel to John McCain’s 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns, and an adviser to the drafters of the McCain-Feingold law. To many, he is perhaps best known for his recurring appearances on The Colbert Report as the lawyer for Stephen Colbert’s super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, during the 2012 election, a program that won a Peabody Award for excellence in reporting on money in politics.

View his full bio here.

Colbert Episodes:

Season 7, Episode 43: Colbert PAC – Trevor Potter

Season 7, Episode 52: Colbert Super PAC – Trevor Potter

Season 7, Episode 124: Colbert Super PAC – Trevor Potter & Stephen’s Shell Corporation

Comedy Central’s “Colbert Super PAC”
©2022 Comedy Partners. All Rights Reserved. CBS, all related titles, characters, and logos are trademarks owned by Viacom International Inc.

Links:
About the FEC (Federal Election Commission)

Cost of Election statistics (OpenSecrets.org)

“PACs, Super PACs & Dark Money Groups: What's the Difference?" (Campaign Legal Center)

“How Does the Citizens United Decision Still Affect Us in 2022?" (Campaign Legal Center)

“Ten Years After Potter’s Interview on Colbert’s Show, Illegal Coordination Still Pervades” (Campaign Legal Center)

About CLC:

Democracy Decoded is a production of Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization which advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s right to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process. You can visit us on the web at campaignlegalcenter.org.

Joined by Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of OpenSecrets, and Norman Ornstein, chair of the Board of Campaign Legal Center, host Simone Leeper looks back on the history of campaign finance law in the United States.
As they trace historical events from the Watergate scandal to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and beyond, Simone and her expert guests explore the scandals, legislation and judicial decisions that have helped shape the current system and the root causes of the ever-growing cost of our elections.

Guests:

Sheila Krumholz is the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks money in politics on its website, OpenSecrets.org. Krumholz became Executive Director in 2006, prior to which she was CRP’s research director for eight years, supervising data analysis for CRP’s website, OpenSecrets.org, and for CRP’s partners and clients in the media, academia and elsewhere. Krumholz has testified before Congress and the Federal Election Commission on issues related to government transparency and is cited frequently in prominent national media outlets. She regularly makes presentations to scholars, government officials, NGOs that conduct research and advocacy, meetings of professional news organizations, and trains reporters on CRP’s data tools and resources. Currently, Krumholz serves on the board of the Institute for Nonprofit News. She has a degree in international relations and political science from the University of Minnesota.
Learn more about OpenSecrets, the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics, here.

Norman J. Ornstein, CLC's Board Chair, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He is co-host of AEI’s Election Watch series, is a contributing editor and columnist for National Journal and The Atlantic, and a BBC News election analyst. His campaign finance working group of scholars and practitioners helped shape the major law, known as McCain/Feingold, that reformed the campaign financing system.
View his full bio here.

Links:

Money-in-Politics Timeline (OpenSecrets.org)

"The Tillman Act: 34 Stat. 864 (1907)" by Paweł Laider and Maciej Turek (Basic Documents in Federal Campaign Finance Law)
Mission and history (The Federal Election Commission)
﷟HYPERLINK "https://www.fec.gov/about/mission-and-history/"Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) (The Federal Election Commission)

“Anniversary of U.S. v. Nixon Shows Why We Should Restructure the FEC” (Campaign Legal Center)

Buckley v. Valeo (Oyez.org)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (Oyez.org)

“How Does the Citizens United Decision Still Affect Us in 2022?” (Campaign Legal Center)
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (Oyez.org)

About CLC:

Democracy Decoded is a production of Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization which advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s right to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process. You can visit us on the web at campaignlegalcenter.org.

In this bonus episode we’re featuring content from a new podcast called “When the People Decide”. Host Jenna Spinelle explores the basics of the ballot initiative and the history of how it caught on in the United States.

She investigates the backstory behind a campaign in Michigan to end partisan gerrymandering in 2018 which is part of a legacy of ballot initiatives dating back to the 1800s. After becoming disillusioned with the results of the 2016 election, Katie Fahey took to Facebook to gauge the interest of grassroots mobilization amongst her colleagues, friends and family.

Now the executive director of a nonpartisan voter reform organization, Fahey shares how the ballot initiative excited everyday people about becoming active in politics, including its 10,000 volunteers, and how they were inspired to make political changes in their communities.

Links

https://www.thepeopledecide.show/ (When the People Decide website)

@PeopleDecidePod (When the People Decide Twitter)

“Victory! Fair Congressional Maps Upheld by Michigan Court” (Campaign Legal Center)

“Two Ways Politicians Are Making It Harder To Pass Ballot Initiatives” (Campaign Legal Center)

About CLC

Democracy Decoded is a production of Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization which advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s right to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process. You can visit us on the web at campaignlegalcenter.org.

This week, Simone takes a closer look at the Federal Election Commission - the only government agency tasked solely with overseeing the integrity of our political campaigns – with one of the FEC’s commissioners, Shana Broussard.
She also takes a deeper look at our current campaign finance system, and how that system has failed to keep up with modern times – namely by failing to adequately regulate online ads. She is joined by some former Senate staffers who were part of an effort to change that.

Guests:

Commissioner Shana M. Broussard joined the FEC in 2008 as an attorney in the Enforcement Division of the Office of General Counsel. In 2015, she was assigned on detail as Counsel for Commissioner Steven T. Walther, advising the Commissioner during his tenure as Chair in 2017 and continuing in that role until her own appointment as Commissioner. Commissioner Broussard previously was an Attorney Advisor at the Internal Revenue Service, Office of Professional Responsibility, and Deputy Disciplinary Counsel at the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. She also worked as a New Orleans Assistant District Attorney and was appointed in that role to the Violent Offenders Strike Force.
Read her full bio here.

Adav Noti coordinates all of CLC's programmatic activities, overseeing CLC's efforts to fix the campaign finance system, protect voting rights, ensure fair redistricting and promote government ethics. He has conducted dozens of constitutional cases in district courts, courts of appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Prior to joining CLC, Adav served for more than 10 years in several capacities within the Office of General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission. From 2013 to 2017, as associate general counsel for policy, Adav oversaw all legal recommendations regarding the FEC’s regulations and advisory opinions.
Read his full bio here.

Lindsey Kerr is a Senior Vice President for The Messina Group. She is a veteran of Capitol Hill, having served in the House and the Senate, including time as the chief of staff for Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). In 2021, Lindsey served as the top Senate Democratic staff representative responsible for working with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to plan, oversee, and execute the Presidential Inauguration. Prior to that, she worked in the House of Representatives as senior counsel to Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN). Lindsey started her career on Capitol Hill as a fellow with the American Political Science Association. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and juris doctorate degrees from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
See her full bio here.

Truman Anderson is former chief-of-staff to the late U.S. Senator John S. McCain III of Arizona and is now a consultant to the McCain Papers Project at Arizona State University. He holds a doctorate in History from the University of Chicago, was a lecturer at the London School of Economics in International History, and served for many years as the Executive Director of the Stuart Family Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Links for Part One:

About the FEC (Federal Election Commission)
“Let’s Celebrate the FEC’s 47th Birthday By Strengthening the Agency’s Enforcement Abilities” (Campaign Legal Center)
“Democrats’ Improbable New F.E.C. Strategy: More Deadlock Than Ever” (New York Times)

Links for Part Two:
Disclosure Rules for Digital Political Spending (Campaign Legal Center)

“FEC Symposium Draws Attention to Online Advertisement Disclosure Loopholes” (Campaign Legal Center)
“What You Need to Know About the Honest Ads Act” (NPR)
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This week, Simone examines some of the gaps in our campaign finance laws that have allowed foreign entities to spend money to influence our elections.
She focuses on a recent story that took place in Maine, speaking with two state legislators who introduced bills to combat foreign interference in their state – a bigger concern than most would expect, especially considering the cause of their concern comes not from a hostile foreign government, but from one of our closest allies.

Guests:

Aaron McKean serves as Legal Counsel for State and Local Reform at Campaign Legal Center, working with state and local partners to develop and advocate for campaign finance reforms that lift the voices of voters and lead to a more transparent democracy. Prior to joining CLC, Aaron was a legislative attorney at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan legislative service agency, drafting legislation for members of the Wisconsin Legislature. He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Azerbaijan from 2009 to 2011. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Senator Richard A. Bennett a former President of the Maine Senate, has 14 years of public service in the Senate and House. He has represented western Maine since 2020 and earlier for four terms in the Maine Senate, from 1996 to 2004. From 1990 to 1994 he served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives. He has earned a reputation as a reformer and staunch advocate for fiscal discipline, balanced budgets, term limits, governmental accountability, and Maine’s precious outdoors heritage. Senator Bennett is a Maine native and has family roots in Oxford County going back over two centuries.

Kyle Bailey is a former state legislator and social entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience managing candidate campaigns, ballot measure campaigns, and start-up nonprofits. Kyle managed the ballot campaign that won the nation’s first statewide ranked choice voting law in Maine in 2016, and the 2018 ballot measure campaign that protected the voter-approved law from legislative repeal. In 2012, he led in-state fundraising for the 2012 campaign that won the nation’s first statewide ballot measure campaign for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.

Links:
“Maine Misses Chance to Fight Foreign Election Interference” (Campaign Legal Center)

“Maine judge quashes Hydro-Quebec power line plan for now” (Marketplace)

“Mainers Again Flex Their Independence to Protect Their Vote” (The American Leader)

Protect Maine Elections
About CLC

Democracy Decoded is a production of Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization which advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s right to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process. You can visit us on the web at campaignlegalcenter.org.