Cracks in the System
03/17/22 • 18 min
1 Listener
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.
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 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.
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.
Previous Episode
Introducing: Democracy Decoded
Why does American Democracy look the way it does today and how can we make it more responsive to the people it was formed to serve? Democracy Decoded, a podcast by Campaign Legal Center, examines our government and discusses innovative ideas that could lead to a stronger, more transparent, accountable and inclusive democracy. Host Simone Leeper speaks with experts from across the political spectrum and takes a deep dive into the forces fueling our elections, not just in our nation’s capital but at all levels of government.
Next Episode
How Did We Get Here?
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.
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