Opinion ID: 787590
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Are Vermont's time-protection and anti-corruption interests advanced by campaign spending caps?

Text: 119 Plaintiffs argue that the spending limits do not actually advance the interests asserted by the State because the limits are set at the equivalent of current levels of spending, and when considered in combination with the contribution limits, actually force candidates and elected officials to spend more time and attention on fundraising, not less. For the reasons that follow, we disagree and conclude that the spending limits are likely to advance both the time-protection and anti-corruption interests asserted by the State. 120 First, we do note the apparent tension between seeking to reform the political process by imposing expenditure limits, yet setting limits based on current candidate expenditure patterns in an effort to approximate the spending needs of such candidates. We believe, however, that this tension is more apparent than real. Indeed, plaintiffs' argument misunderstands the driving force behind the spending limits. The evidence at trial, including the evidence from legislative hearings, indicated the widespread presence of an arms race mentality. The record in Vermont demonstrates that often it is this potential of being vastly outspent that creates powerful and deleterious pressures to raise funds. The significance of the spending cap lies not in reducing the amount of money spent on campaigns, but rather in eliminating this potential of being vastly outspent that leads to the arms race mentality among candidates and elected officials. 121 Limiting the arms race promises to have a direct impact on the time of candidates and elected officials. Indeed, the witnesses' testimony at trial supported the idea that reducing the arms race mentality, spending limits would allow candidates and elected officials to focus more time on issues. One elected official shared her sense of how spending limits will liberate public officials: [The spending limit] lessens the pressure.... I am not going to be locked away ... in the Democratic Party somewhere or in my own office somewhere making fundraising calls. (testimony of Elizabeth Ready). Another State Senator, and a sponsor of Act 64, testified that I would hope that it's going to give folks running for office more of an opportunity to go out and engage the voters on the issues. (testimony of Cheryl Rivers). And William T. Doyle, another senator, testified that without the need to raise such large sums of money there will be increased time for real debate ... candidates will be able to concentrate more on issues rather than raising public money. 122 The arms race mentality—and its effect on the behavior of candidates and elected officials—is also quite relevant to the anti-corruption interest, and helps explain why the spending caps also address this threat from politicians too compliant with the wishes of large contributors. Shrink, 528 U.S. at 389, 120 S.Ct. 897. The evidence presented at trial indicated that the agenda of candidates and elected officials is affected by the perceived need to raise increasing amounts of funds. Because the sources of campaign money are necessarily limited, candidates are reluctant to alienate potential fundraising constituencies. This affects what issues are put on the agenda, what issues are taken off, and how certain issues are addressed. With spending caps, this calculus changes to a certain extent. For example, with a limit on how much money can be spent, elected officials testified that they would be more willing to take a position which a particular industry opposed. (testimony of State Sen. Cheryl Rivers; testimony of former Congressman and Lt. Governor Peter Smith). 123 Plaintiffs also argue that Act 64's expenditure limits do not advance the interest in reducing the time dedicated to fundraising because Act 64, as a whole, actually forces candidates to devote more time to fundraising, not less. Defendants essentially do not dispute that lower contribution limits increase the amount of time that candidates must spend on fundraising. Instead they argue that this makes the interest in time-protection more compelling, not less, with respect to expenditure limits. In essence, plaintiffs argue that rather than address both the anti-corruption interest with contribution limits, and the anti-corruption and time-protection interests with expenditure limits, the State of Vermont must address just one interest, or else resign itself to the state of affairs post- Buckley. After Buckley, when the Court upheld the contribution limits but not spending limits, Congress' regulatory scheme fell prey to precisely this problem: candidates have been forced to spend increasing amounts of time fundraising under a regime with contribution limits but no spending limits. We reject the notion that Vermont cannot try to address both interests—anti-corruption and time-protection —at once. 124 Finally, plaintiffs argue, as the Buckley plaintiffs did for contribution limits, that the limitations work such an invidious discrimination between incumbents and challengers that the statutory provisions must be declared unconstitutional on their face. 424 U.S. at 30-31, 96 S.Ct. 612. We agree with plaintiffs—and with our dissenting colleague, see post —that election laws, written by legislators who are, at least in part, necessarily self-interested, must be scrutinized for indications that the limits unduly benefit incumbents or otherwise create dangerous distortions of the electoral system. See Shrink, 528 U.S. at 402, 120 S.Ct. 897 (Breyer, J., concurring) (noting the need for courts to scrutinize legislative judgments that risk such constitutional evils as, say, permitting incumbents to insulate themselves from effective electoral challenge.). It should be recognized, however, that a legislature's inaction may maintain such barriers more easily than reforms create them, and review of legislation should not amount to a presumption against the fairness of spending limits simply because elected officials have an interest in the reforms they are enacting. See Frank I. Michelman, The Constitutional Question, 24 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POL'Y 17, 22 (2000). 125 Indeed, there is considerable evidence in Act 64 itself that incumbent protection was not the legislature's motive. Act 64 permits challengers to outspend incumbents, partially neutralizing the advantages that incumbents often enjoy from free media exposure. Specifically, incumbent candidates for statewide office may only spend 85 percent of the amount permitted challengers. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805a(c). Incumbents in the General Assembly may spend 90 percent. See id. These are rare types of provisions in state campaign finance laws; if the legislature wanted to achieve incumbent protection, it seems unlikely that they would have inserted such provisions. Moreover, defendants presented evidence at trial that the disparity between challenger and incumbent spending is what most frequently disadvantages challengers, and reduces electoral competition—a disparity that spending limits would inevitably reduce. (testimony of Donald Gross). In short, plaintiffs have not demonstrated that challengers will be disproportionately harmed by the spending limits. Like the Buckley court, we see no evidence in the record sufficient to overcome the presumption that a court should generally be hesitant to invalidate legislation which on its face imposes evenhanded restrictions. 424 U.S. at 31, 96 S.Ct. 612. 126 In sum, because Vermont has demonstrated that the time-protection and anti-corruption interests are advanced, and plaintiffs have not succeeded in demonstrating impermissible legislative motives, we conclude that the State has met its burden on this aspect of narrow tailoring— that the spending limits actually advance these asserted interests. 127