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What do you make of the phenomenon of outside interest groups this year putting
on ads to influence elections?
JEFF
GREENFIELD replies:
In
the Santa Barbara special Congressional election this year to fill Walter
Capps' seat, both candidates were exorcised by the fact that outside groups
came in and dumped a lot of money in these so-called independent expenditure
ads, which are in all but name political commercials and therefore kind of
took the campaign away.
You're
in this bizarre situation where thanks to a series of court rulings, you can
limit what a candidate raises, but interest groups are absolutely unlimited--it's
considered a first amendment right. So, a candidate can maybe raise a million
dollars, let's say, to say what he or she wants to say. Then you're going
to find that the National Widget Association or Citizens for a Cleaner Environment
or whoever it is are going to spend whatever they want on that race and in
effect, take it over.
I
don't, by the way, think there's any solution to this as long as the court
ruling stands because I don't know how you can legislate it.
Ask JEFF GREENFIELD
Ask KATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON
Ask BOB SQUIER
Ask ALEX CASTELLANOS
Ask PAUL TAYLOR