Opinion ID: 787590
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Act 64's Contribution Limitations

Text: 150 Act 64 also imposes four basic types of contribution limitations. First, contributions by individuals to candidates are limited to $200 for state representative and other local offices, $300 for state senator and other county offices, and $400 for statewide office. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(a). Second, PACs and political parties may not accept contributions from a single source in excess of $2000 and are subject to the individual contribution limits when contributing to candidates. See id. Third, individuals, PACs or political parties that make related expenditures with candidates must count those expenditures toward the relevant expenditure and contribution limits. See id. § 2809(a)-(c). Finally, candidates, PACs, and political parties may not accept more than 25 percent of their total resources from out-of-state sources. See id. § 2805(c). 151
152 The contribution limits of $200 (state representative), $300 (state senator), and $400 (statewide office) are subject to a lesser degree of scrutiny than expenditure limits, as explained most recently by the Supreme Court in Shrink, 528 U.S. at 386, 120 S.Ct. 897. Contribution limits can survive if the Government demonstrated that contribution regulation was closely drawn to match a sufficiently important interest, though the dollar amount of the limit need not be fine tuned. Id. at 387-88, 120 S.Ct. 897 (internal quotation marks omitted). 153 The governmental interest in eliminating actual and apparent corruption is sufficient to support Vermont's limits on contributions to candidates. The Buckley Court upheld limitations of $1000 on contributions to candidates for federal office on the strength of this interest alone. It is unnecessary to look beyond the Act's primary purpose—to limit the actuality and appearance of corruption resulting from large individual financial contributions—in order to find a constitutionally sufficient justification. . . . 424 U.S. at 26, 96 S.Ct. 612; see also McConnell, 540 U.S. at ___, 124 S.Ct. at 647 (explaining that in Buckley, the Court determined that limiting contributions served an interest in protecting `the integrity of our system of representative democracy') (quoting Buckley, 424 U.S. at 26-27, 96 S.Ct. 612); Jacobus v. Alaska, 338 F.3d 1095, 1107 (9th Cir.2003) ([A] failure to regulate the arena of campaign finance allows the influence of wealthy individuals and corporations to drown out the voices of individual citizens, producing a political system unresponsive to the needs and desires of the public, and causing the public to become disillusioned with and mistrustful of the political system.). In this case, the District Court relied on trial testimony, citizen polls, comments by public officials and media coverage to demonstrate the real and perceived threat of corruption in Vermont. 118 F.Supp.2d at 469, 478. As the District Court concluded, [t]he threat of corruption in Vermont is far from illusory. Id. at 478. 154 In addition, we conclude that the Vermont limits are closely drawn to this anti-corruption interest. The District Court's findings in this respect are reasonable and based on the evidence adduced at trial. Id. at 470, 478-80. The District Court relied in part on expert testimony indicating that over the last three election cycles, less than 10 percent of contributions exceeded the limits set by the Vermont legislature. Id. at 478. Based on testimony by both plaintiffs' and defendants' witnesses, the District Court also concluded that the limitations approximated amounts considered suspiciously large by the Vermont public. Id. at 479-80. And finally, the court compared the Vermont law to similar limits upheld in Maine and Missouri. In Maine, a limit of $250 for House and Senate candidates was upheld. See Daggett v. Comm'n on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices, 205 F.3d 445, 459 (1st Cir.2000). In Missouri, limits of $1075, $525, and $275, depending on the size of the electoral district have been upheld. See Shrink, 528 U.S. at 396-98, 120 S.Ct. 897, remanded to Shrink Mo. Gov't PAC v. Adams, 204 F.3d 838, 840-42 (8th Cir.2000). 28 155 The contribution ceilings are also sufficiently high to permit effective campaigning. Overly restrictive contribution limits might have a severe impact on political dialogue if the limitations prevented candidates and political committees from amassing the resources necessary for effective advocacy. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 21, 96 S.Ct. 612. Contribution limits, however, need not be perfectly set: the failure of the legislators to engage in such fine tuning does not invalidate the legislation. Id. at 30, 96 S.Ct. 612. As we have indicated, distinctions in degree become significant only when they can be said to amount to differences in kind. Id. We agree with the District Court's conclusion that the contribution limits imposed by Act 64 do not amount to differences in kind. 156 As the District Court found, the limits imposed by Vermont hardly overwhelm the ability of candidates to engage in active and effective campaigning. The District Court marshaled evidence to support its findings, and conducted a fact-intensive analysis of what constitutes effective campaigning. 118 F.Supp.2d at 478-79. Moreover, Vermont has actually conducted an election since the imposition of these contribution limits (for Mayor of Burlington), and that election involved effective campaigns despite the contribution limitations. Id. at 471, 479. Subject to the applicable limits imposed by the statute, the mayoral candidates raised funds comparable to the amounts spent in State Senate races in the past. Id. The District Court further concluded that the limits may actually improve the ability of candidates to campaign, by freeing candidates from the time-consuming task of wooing big donors. Id. at 480. 157
158 Act 64 also regulates the ability of PACs and political parties to give and receive contributions. The Act prohibits such organizations from accepting contributions of more than $2000 from a single source during any two-year general election cycle. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit 17, § 2805(a). The Act further prohibits those organizations from making contributions to political candidates in excess of the general contribution limits—$200 for state representatives or local office, $300 for state senator or county office, and $400 for statewide office. See id. §§ 2805(a)-(b). 159 The District Court upheld these limitations, except as applied to contributions by political parties to their own candidates. 118 F.Supp.2d at 486-87. Upon review, we hold that all of these limitations are constitutional. We thus affirm the judgment of the District Court as to the constitutionality of most of the limitations, but reject the District Court's conclusion that political parties cannot be prohibited from contributing to candidates in excess of generally applicable limitations. We discuss three narrow issues that require further attention and, as to two of those issues, further proceedings before the District Court. 160 We first consider the issue of the $2000 limitation on contributions to political committees or political action committees and political parties. Act 64 defines political committees or political action committees as any formal or informal committee of two or more individuals, not including a political party, which receives contributions or makes expenditures of more than $500.00 in any one calendar year for the purpose of supporting or opposing one or more candidates, influencing an election or advocating a position on a public question, in any election or affecting the outcome of an election. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit 17, § 2801(4). A political party is defined as including both the central party apparatus and any committee established, financed, maintained or controlled by the party, including any subsidiary, branch or local unit thereof and including national or regional affiliates of the party. Id. § 2801(5). 161 Perhaps the most typical application of these rules would involve contributions to a political committee or political party that participates in the political process either by making contributions to or coordinated expenditures with candidates for office. As applied to these organizations, the $2000 limitation is unquestionably constitutional. Political action committees derive rights from their members and are accordingly due First Amendment protection. Colorado Republican II, 533 U.S. 431, 448 n. 10, 121 S.Ct. 2351, 150 L.Ed.2d 461. It is well established, however, that the state interest in fighting corruption, real and apparent, justifies limitations on contributions by individuals to particular candidate committees. Such a state interest is equally capable of justifying limits on contributions made to political parties or committees. 162 If the First Amendment rights of a contributor are not infringed by limitations on the amount he may contribute to a campaign organization which advocates the views and candidacy of a particular candidate, the rights of a contributor are similarly not impaired by limits on the amount he may give to a multicandidate political committee ... which advocates the views and candidacies of a number of candidates. 163 Cal. Med. Ass'n v. Federal Election Comm'n, 453 U.S. 182, 197, 101 S.Ct. 2712, 69 L.Ed.2d 567 (1981) ( CMA ). 164 The plaintiffs do not dispute that, in principle, such limitations may be constitutional. Instead, they argue that Vermont's chosen limitations are overbroad, both because the statute applies to too many organizations and because it sets the contribution ceiling too low. 165 Regarding the first point, the plaintiffs assert that the restriction is an overbroad, blunderbuss approach that punishes even those organizations that are unlikely to corrupt the political process. They imply that certain types of PACs, particularly legislative leadership PACs or ideological PACs, pose a weaker danger of corruption and should therefore be permitted greater latitude in determining how to allocate their contributions. The plaintiffs argue that the limits are unconstitutional because Vermont has not shown any independent evidence that political parties and PACs have a negative or deleterious effect on Vermont's politics. Further, the plaintiffs contend, these organizations are even less likely to corrupt in light of Act 64's other limitations on campaign financing. Private individuals cannot, for example, effectively funnel large gifts through political parties because parties can themselves only make contributions to candidates of between $200 and $400. 166 An argument identical to the plaintiffs' overbreadth argument was addressed and rejected in Buckley. There, the appellants argued that many large contributors have no interest in corrupting the political process, and the law was overbroad for restricting the rights of these unthreatening contributors. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of generally applicable contribution limits of $1000, even though most large contributors do not seek improper influence over a candidate's position or an officeholder's action. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 29, 96 S.Ct. 612. The Court reasoned that the very corruption rationale which provides a foundation for the constitutional validity of contribution limitations supports their general applicability: Not only is it difficult to isolate suspect contributions, but, more importantly, Congress was justified in concluding that the interest in safeguarding against the appearance of impropriety requires that the opportunity for abuse inherent in the process of raising large monetary contributions be eliminated. Id. at 30, 96 S.Ct. 612. 167 These arguments were also rejected by the Supreme Court in CMA, 453 U.S. at 197, 101 S.Ct. 2712. In that case, a California political action committee challenged a $5000 federal limit on annual contributions by individuals and associations to multicandidate political committees. See id. at 186, 101 S.Ct. 2712. Like the plaintiffs here, the parties in CMA asserted that such limitations do not serve the government's strong interest in preventing actual or apparent corruption in the political process. See id. at 197, 101 S.Ct. 2712. The Supreme Court concluded that  Buckley precludes any argument that the government may not limit the size of contributions made to multicandidate committees, and rejected the assertion that such limitations do not further the government's interest in battling political corruption. Id. Without such limitations, individuals could evade the contribution limitation by channeling funds through a multicandidate political committee. Id. at 198, 101 S.Ct. 2712. 168 In light of these prior holdings, we are unpersuaded by the plaintiffs' contention that Vermont had an obligation to divine which PACs and political parties pose the most serious risk of corruption, and develop a record that donations to each type of organization, narrowly defined, pose a strong threat of corruption. It is clear that, in principle, such limitations are an appropriate means ... to protect the integrity of the contribution restrictions upheld... in Buckley. CMA, 453 U.S. at 199, 101 S.Ct. 2712. Thus, the Vermont provision is constitutional so long as the danger of corruption of the political system exists. Just as individuals may be limited from directly contributing to campaign organizations, individuals may be limited from doing so indirectly—that is, contributing large sums to PACs or political parties that funnel money to candidates. See Buckley, 424 U.S. at 38, 96 S.Ct. 612; cf. Federal Election Comm'n v. Beaumont, 539 U.S. 146, 155, 123 S.Ct. 2200, 156 L.Ed.2d 179 (2003) (explaining that restricting contributions by various organizations hedges against their use as conduits for `circumvention of [valid] contribution limits') (citation omitted; alteration in original). Vermont does not have the burden to show on a contributor-by-contributor basis that contributions have led to corruption. 169 The plaintiffs' second argument is that the $200, $300, and $400 limits on contributions to candidates for office are unnecessarily low, and that political parties and PACs should be exempt. The plaintiffs in Buckley also raised this argument, contending that the $1000 limitation regulated more contributions than necessary to accomplish its anti-corruption goals. Specifically, the appellants argued that even contributions of a larger amount did not carry a risk of corruption because no politician would throw away a career and reputation for a $1000 donation. As with the earlier overbreadth argument, the Supreme Court also has rejected this contention. See Buckley, 424 U.S. at 30, 96 S.Ct. 612. [I]f it is satisfied that some limit on contributions is necessary, a court has no scalpel to probe, whether, say, a $2,000 ceiling might not serve as well as $1,000. Id. (quotations and citations omitted). The Court reaffirmed the validity of this approach in Shrink, stating that a contribution limit survives scrutiny only if the regulation is closely drawn to match a sufficiently important interest, though the dollar amount of the limit need not be fine tun[ed]. 528 U.S. at 387-88, 120 S.Ct. 897 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted; alteration in original); see also Montana Right to Life Assoc. v. Eddleman, 343 F.3d 1085, 1095 (9th Cir.2003) (same). 170 In order to succeed, then, plaintiffs must establish that when the limitations are applied to political parties and political action committees, they impose such a severe burden that it results in a difference[] in kind from alternative limits. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 30, 96 S.Ct. 612. In other words, a party seeking a special exemption from such laws carries a large burden. Illustrative of the political parties' and political action committees' burden in this regard is Federal Election Comm'n v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238, 107 S.Ct. 616, 93 L.Ed.2d 539 (1986) ( MCFL ). In that case, the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of a federal law which bans corporations from making any political expenditures from general corporate funds. The statute's purpose was to regulate the corrosive influence of concentrated corporate wealth. Id. at 257, 107 S.Ct. 616. The Federal Election Commission had sought enforcement of the provision against an incorporated, non-profit pro-life advocacy organization that had features more akin to voluntary political associations than business firms. Id. at 263, 107 S.Ct. 616. The Court held that, as applied, the provision was unconstitutional because the stated interest does not apply to an incorporated association like MCFL. Id. at 263-64, 107 S.Ct. 616. The Court set forth specific and demanding criteria for determining when other corporations fall into this constitutionally mandated exclusion, which the advocacy organization was able to meet. Id. 171 We should expect that the plaintiffs here bear a similar burden of establishing their exceptionalism, even if the particular facts of MCFL do not apply. Unlike the situation in MCFL, the PACs here have offered no evidence that PACs and political parties have overriding features exempting them from the general findings about actual and apparent corruption in Vermont. Nor have they provided evidence that the limitations, when applied to these organizations, impose such a severe burden on speech as to constitute a difference in kind. As mentioned, the District Court concluded, after considering a large body of evidence, that the contribution limits are high enough so that they do not constitute a severe infringement—a difference in kind—of the ability to associate politically. 118 F.Supp.2d at 476-81. We thus agree with the judgment of the District Court and find that Act 64's contributions limits on political action committees and parties are constitutional. 172 The District Court did find support for one exception to the candidate contribution limits: those made by political parties. In this regard, we reject the District Court's conclusion that on account of their unique role in the mechanics of our democracy, political parties must have greater freedom to provide their candidates with financial support. Id. at 486. Relying on the central place of political parties in elections, the District Court held that the generally applicable limits were too severe when applied to parties. This was despite the fact that the District Court had already concluded that candidates can receive sufficient funds to effectively exercise their First Amendment rights even when restricted by Act 64's contribution limits. Nevertheless the District Court held that [s]uch limits would reduce the voice of political parties to an undesirable, and constitutionally impermissible, whisper. Id. at 487. 173 We see no other way to understand the District Court's position than as being founded on the belief that political parties operate as specially protected institutions under our Constitution and thus merit special treatment. Whatever the validity of this principle in other legal contexts, the Supreme Court has recently left no doubt that parties do not deserve a special exemption from generally applicable contribution limits. See Colorado Republican II, 533 U.S. at 480-82, 121 S.Ct. 2351. In that case, the Colorado Republican Party challenged the constitutionality of restrictions on expenditures it made in coordination with candidates for office, arguing that coordinated spending is essential to parties because a party and its candidate are joined at the hip, owing to the very conception of the party as an organization formed to elect candidates. Id. at 477, 121 S.Ct. 2351 (citations and quotation marks omitted). The Court held that such limitations are a constitutional mechanism for ensuring that contributors do not circumvent the federal contribution limit and rejected the claim that political parties occupy some special place in our constitutional system. Above all, the argument fails because, just as with other political organizations, political parties are necessarily the instruments of some contributors whose object is not to support the party's message or to elect party candidates across the board, but rather to support a specific candidate for the sake of a position on one, narrow issue, or even to support any candidate who will be obliged to the contributors. Id. at 479, 121 S.Ct. 2351. Thus, as it does with any other contributor to political campaigns, the government has an interest in restricting the flow of money from parties to candidates in order to reduce actual and apparent corruption. The Party's arguments for being treated differently from other political actors subject to limitation on political spending under the Act do not pan out. Id. at 481, 121 S.Ct. 2351. Since we agree with the District Court's conclusion that Vermont's limits are vital to deter avoidance of the individual contribution limits, 118 F.Supp.2d at 487, we hold that their application to political parties is supported by this strong governmental interest. 174 Having concluded that the restriction of contributions from political parties is supported by a constitutionally sufficient governmental interest, we turn to the question of whether the statute is sufficiently tailored to this interest. As discussed above, the District Court reviewed the limits based upon data reflecting the costs of elections and the views of citizens regarding what constitutes suspiciously large gifts. Based on this body of evidence, the District Court concluded that gifts in excess of the limits create the appearance of, and increase the likelihood of, corruption. Moreover, contributions in the amounts permitted by the Act provide citizens an adequate tool for speaking their mind by giving a donation in order to affiliate with a candidate. Id. at 478-80. 175 However, there are three narrower issues that require more individual attention. The first concerns the Act's definition of local and state party affiliates as a single entity. For the purposes of determining whether a political party has exceeded its various contribution limitations, Act 64 defines a political party as any committee established, financed, maintained or controlled by the party, including any subsidiary, branch or local unit thereof and including national or regional affiliates of the party. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2801(5). Vermont's Secretary of State has interpreted this provision, in conjunction with Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2301-2320, to require that state and local branches of political parties be considered a single unit for the purposes of applying contribution limits, and determining whether those limits have been reached or violated. 176 Plaintiff Vermont Republican State Committee argues that this definition requires the party to treat itself as a single monolithic unit, and requires the party to abandon its current, decentralized structure. However, the plaintiff has not cited any actual changes that will need to be made, except that local and state affiliates will now have to record and coordinate their contributions. In other words, the provision does not impose any organizational burden on the party outside of the campaign finance realm, and requires no broader organizational reform. Moreover, the District Court indicated doubt as to whether the Republican Party actually demonstrated that it operates in the decentralized form that it claims. For example, the state committee brought suit on behalf of all of the town and county committees without ever consulting them or asking them to approve the lawsuit. 118 F.Supp.2d at 487-88. The District Court also noted that federal election law treats state, county, and town committees as a single unit for the purposes of campaign finance. Id. We agree with the District Court that, insofar as Vermont's campaign finance law treats state and local affiliates as a single entity, it suffers from no constitutional defect. 177 Second, the plaintiffs have argued that Act 64 applies to even those political action committees that make wholly independent expenditures. Plaintiff Vermont Right to Life Committee-Fund for Independent Political Expenditures (VRLC-FIPE), which is affiliated with the Vermont Right to Life Committee (VRLC), is a political committee that, by its charter, cannot make contributions to candidates. It has asserted that it makes only independent expenditures, that is, it never coordinates its expenditures with candidates for office. Thus it argues that when applied to itself, the $2000 cap operates as a limitation on independent expenditures. 178 The statute does appear to lend itself to such an interpretation. On the one hand, the Act explicitly states that it does not apply to independent expenditures. The law explicitly states that [t]he limitations on contributions ... shall not apply to contributions made for the purpose of advocating a position on a public question, including a constitutional amendment. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(g). Nonetheless, it appears that VRLC may be correct that even political organizations that make solely independent expenditures, but nonetheless advocate the election of particular candidates, would be covered. See id. § 2801(4). 179 Thus, we remand for findings on the following points: (1) whether plaintiff VRLC makes solely independent expenditures and thus has standing to challenge this provision; (2) whether the Vermont law actually restricts independent expenditures by such organizations; and (3) whether Vermont has a sufficiently strong governmental interest in regulating PACs that do not coordinate their expenditures with candidates for office. 180 Finally, we remand for additional proceedings on the issue of how Act 64 implicates the ability of a state and local party affiliates to receive funds from national affiliates. Act 64 apparently limits the transfer of money from national to state and local parties, and that limit might impose a significant burden on political parties. Vt. Stat. Ann. Tit. 17, §§ 2801(5), 2805(a)-(b). How a party allocates money between its national, state and local affiliates constitutes an important component of party organization. It determines who in the party exercises decision-making authority, who speaks for the party, and how the party arranges its internal finances. At the same time, the failure to limit such transfers might create a loophole that would easily enable contributors to circumvent the $2000 limit on gifts to state parties. See McConnell, 124 S.Ct. at 671 (upholding federal legislation sharply curbing the ability of donors to circumvent contribution limits by channeling nonfederal or soft money through state political committees to finance Federal election activity). The District Court never made specific findings of fact regarding this issue, including how national and local affiliates of the political parties interact and how limitations on transfers of money might affect parties. Since we are reluctant to rule on this issue without the benefit of findings of fact on how such a provision might be expected to operate, we remand for further proceedings. 181
182 We also affirm the District Court's holding that the related expenditure provisions of Act 64 are constitutional because they serve to reinforce the anti-corruption goals of the contribution limitations. Pursuant to Act 64, related expenditures on behalf of a candidate by a third party count toward the third party's contribution limit as well as the candidate's expenditure limit. The Act defines related expenditures as those intentionally facilitated by, solicited by or approved by the candidate or the candidate's political committee. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2809(c). The plaintiffs challenge the provision on three grounds: (1) the phrase facilitated by is vague; (2) political parties and PACs should have greater abilities to engage in coordinated expenditures with candidates; and (3) the Act's rebuttable presumption that an expenditure benefiting six or fewer candidates is a related expenditure is a content-based speech restriction discouraging advertisements about a small number of candidates. We reject each claim. 183 Plaintiffs argue that the facilitated by standard is vague because it leaves open the possibility that any communication about a candidate's views with a third party that then undertakes independent expenditures will qualify as a contribution. The First Amendment permits the treatment of coordinated expenditures as contributions to a candidate. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 46-47, 96 S.Ct. 612. Independent expenditures may not be limited because the absence of prearrangement and coordination undermines the value of the expenditure to the candidate, and thereby alleviates the danger that expenditures will be given as a quid pro quo. Federal Election Comm'n v. Nat'l Conservative Political Action Comm., 470 U.S. 480, 498, 105 S.Ct. 1459, 84 L.Ed.2d 455 (1985). The plaintiffs' objection to Act 64 is really one which assumes that the word facilitated has its broadest meaning, akin to giving any aid in support of the third-party expenditure. If that were what the statute meant, then we would agree that the provision might raise constitutional problems. 184 We think that, in light of the terms solicited by or approved by that accompany it, the term facilitated should be given a narrower reading. Such a reading would also resolve the ambiguity of the statutory language so as to guarantee the constitutionality of the statute. See WILLIAM ESKRIDGE, LEGISLATION: STATUTES AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC POLICY 873-89 (3d ed. 2001) (discussing canon of constitutional avoidance). Accordingly, we construe the phrase facilitated by as requiring some prearrangement or coordination with the candidate. Nat'l Conservative Political Action Comm., 470 U.S. at 498, 105 S.Ct. 1459. Under such a construction, sharing routine information about a candidate is not sufficient to meet the facilitated by requirement. Thus, the provision is not constitutionally invalid. 185 Nor is there any constitutional barrier to applying this provision to related expenditures by PACs and political parties. The plaintiffs' argument on this point substantially restates their claim discussed above—that different contribution limits ought to apply to PACs and political parties. We reject it for the same reasons. 186 Finally, the provision's rebuttable presumption, which presumes that expenditures by political parties or PACs that benefit six or fewer candidates are contributions to those candidates, does not violate the Constitution by chilling protected speech. The plaintiffs argue that the presumption is unconstitutional because (1) the law may never presume that an expenditure is coordinated and (2) the presumption could never be rebutted and, as a result, chills independent advocacy of particular candidates. We find neither claim persuasive. 187 The Constitution does not bar the use of rebuttable presumptions in this context. The plaintiffs base their argument on Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Comm. v. Federal Election Comm'n, 518 U.S. 604, 116 S.Ct. 2309, 135 L.Ed.2d 795 (1996) ( Colorado Republican I ). There, the Supreme Court struck down a federal provision that automatically treated all party expenditures, including those made independently, as contributions to candidates. The Court rejected the Court of Appeals' analysis that the government was entitled to a conclusive presumption that party expenditures are coordinated. Id. at 619, 116 S.Ct. 2309. The fact that the presumption was conclusive, however, played the critical role in that decision: it eliminated the need for a finding that the expenditures were in fact coordinated and foreclosed the possibility of a defense. Id. at 625, 116 S.Ct. 2309. Act 64 does nothing of the sort, since its presumption is rebuttable. 188 The plaintiffs' argument that the presumption is functionally conclusive because one cannot prove a negative is, at least in the legal arena, inaccurate. There are ample strategies that an accused party can employ to demonstrate that an expenditure was truly independent from the candidate it supported. The party can, for example, testify that no discussion took place with the candidate about advertising strategies, including the sharing of information about advertising plans. Candidates can testify that they never gave feedback on an independent advertising scheme or that the third parties never solicited such feedback. Adjudicative bodies can take such evidence, or other similar testimony, as proof and infer a lack of coordination. For these reasons, we uphold Act 64's rebuttable presumption concerning related expenditures. 189
190 We can find no sufficiently important governmental interest to support the provision of Act 64 that limits out-of-state contributions to 25 percent of all candidate contributions. Unlike all of the other Act 64 provisions at issue in this appeal, the out-of-state contribution limit isolates one group of people (non-residents) and denies them the equivalent First Amendment rights enjoyed by others (Vermont residents). The District Court's decision in this regard should be upheld. 191 The District Court concluded that Vermont's interest in eliminating excessive out-of-state contributions was confined to unusually large contributions. 118 F.Supp.2d at 484. The District Court also noted that many non-residents have legitimate and strong interests in Vermont and have a right to participate, at least through speech, in those elections. Id. We find no support in the record for the alternative claim that Vermont has an important interest in singling out one class of contributors for limitations. See 1997 Vt. Laws P.A. 64 (H. 28) (1997) (finding No. 5) (Increasing campaign expenditures require candidates to seek and rely on a smaller number of larger contributors, often outside the state, rather than a large number of small contributors.). There are only vague references to the danger of out-of-state contributions, and all refer to the danger of excessively large (not cumulatively great) contributions. 192 In the two reported decisions on the issue, courts have split on whether limitations of non-resident contributions may be upheld on corruption grounds. The Ninth Circuit has rejected, almost in bright-line form, limitations on non-resident restrictions. In VanNatta v. Keisling, the court struck down an Oregon initiative that effectively limited the use of non-resident contributions to 10 percent of total campaign expenditures. See VanNatta, 151 F.3d 1215, 1217-18 (9th Cir.1998), cert. denied sub nom., Miller v. VanNatta, 525 U.S. 1104, 119 S.Ct. 870, 142 L.Ed.2d 771 (1999); but see Montana Right to Life Assoc. v. Eddleman, 343 F.3d 1085, 1091 n. 2 (9th Cir.2003) (suggesting that VanNatta was superseded by Shrink ). Addressing the asserted anti-corruption justification, the court held that the provision suffered from both over and underbreadth. Its overbreadth stemmed from the fact that it prevented all non-resident contributions once the 10 percent threshold had been reached, even those too small to have any corruptive influence. See VanNatta, 151 F.3d at 1221. The provision was underbroad because it did nothing to prevent corruptive ( i.e., large) resident contributions; nor did it prevent corruptive non-resident contributions until the 10 percent limit had been reached. See id. In other words, the non-resident cap was not closely drawn to advance the goal of preventing corruption. Id. 193 Because Act 64 contains contribution limits, it does not share all of the flaws of the Oregon statute considered in VanNatta. Act 64 does, for example, limit large resident and non-resident contributions. Nonetheless, the provision is overbroad in that it prohibits small contributions from out-of-state sources once the 25 percent threshold has been reached, even though such contributions are no more likely to corrupt than in-state contributions. Under this analysis, sustaining the provision would require an additional explanation for why exactly Vermont has an interest in eliminating such small donations only from non-residents. 194 The Alaska Supreme Court has attempted to craft such an explanation in State v. Alaska Civil Liberties Union, 978 P.2d 597 (Alaska 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1153, 120 S.Ct. 1156, 145 L.Ed.2d 1069 (2000). The Alaska law at issue capped out-of-state contributions but at lower percentages than Vermont's law. The court upheld the limitations on the grounds that out-of-state contributions have the ability to distort the Alaskan political system: These nonresident contributions may be individually modest, but can cumulatively overwhelm Alaskans' political contributions. Without restraints, Alaska's elected officials can be subjected to purchased or coerced influence which is grossly disproportionate to the support nonresidents' views have among the Alaska electorate, Alaska's contributors, and those most intimately affected by the elections, Alaska residents. These restraints therefore limit the `potential for distortion.' Id. at 617. Put another way, Alaska's [m]ore than 100 years of experience ... have inculcated deep suspicions of the motives and wisdom of those who, from outside its borders, wish to remold Alaska and its internal policies. Id. The out-of-state limitation, according to this view, restrains their distorting influence. Id. 195 The analysis in the Alaska case is a sharp departure from the corruption analysis adopted by the Supreme Court in Buckley and Shrink. Even under the more expansive Shrink analysis, the fear was that candidates would become too compliant with the wishes of large contributors because they must rely on private interest groups for funding. The Alaska analysis permits limitations not to ensure candidate independence generally, but to limit the influence of one set of people—untrustworthy outsiders. Even assuming that the Alaska Supreme Court is correct that outsiders have bad motives and little to contribute to its political discourse, the government does not have a permissible interest in disproportionately curtailing the voices of some, while giving others free rein, because it questions the value of what they have to say. 196 The Alaska Court's concern could be understood another way: that when candidates are beholden to fundraisers, and not voters, then large contributions from non-residents distort the system. Again, this problem would endure even if officials were beholden to in-state contributors. Moreover, Vermont's expenditure limitations eliminate the major force behind candidates' excessive reliance on campaign contributors—their need to maximize their ability to raise funds by remaining pliant to the wishes of those who contribute to the political campaign system. 197 Based on our review of these cases and the governmental interests asserted by the defendants, we are unpersuaded that the First Amendment permits state governments to preserve their systems from the influence, exercised only through speech-related activities, of non-residents. Vermont has asserted no valid interest sufficiently strong to justify the provision, and we therefore hold it unconstitutional. Pursuant to Act 64's severability provision, the unconstitutional provisions should be severed.