Opinion ID: 787590
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the constitutional resolution

Text: 366 Some of Act 64's severe limitations on political advocacy are unconstitutional because no governmental interest, much less a compelling interest, has been offered to justify them. These include the two-year cycle for limits on contributions and expenditures, see Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17 §§ 2801(a), 2805(a), 2805a(a), the forced centralization of local party affiliates, see id. §§ 2801(5), 2831, and the imposition of expenditure limits on candidates' self-funded campaigns, see generally id. § 2805a(a). 367 Even if expenditure limits may be constitutionally enacted notwithstanding Buckley 's holding to the contrary, Act 64's limits are so low that they are unconstitutional by any reasonable test. Indeed, they survive in the present case only by my colleagues' creation of a standard that allows legislatures to adopt low, incumbent-protecting limits. 368 With regard to the governmental interests asserted as justifications for Act 64, 22 my colleagues rely upon two in particular: government's interests in eliminating corruption or the appearance thereof and in affording candidates more time to spend with non-donor voters. See Maj. Op. at 124-25. As discussed in my colleagues' opinion, however, these interests are broadly defined and include eliminating special access or the appearance of special access of donors to officeholders, reducing the influential or agenda-setting effect of bundled contributions, and increasing citizen confidence in the electoral process. See id. at 115-25; see also 1997 Vt. Laws P.A. 64 (H.28). All of these interests were rejected by the Supreme Court in Buckley, 424 U.S. at 25-26, 96 S.Ct. 612, but, even if they had not been, they have not been demonstrated in the present case as having a constitutionally sufficient nexus to the limits on candidate expenditures and related expenditures. 369 a) Restrictions on Political Activity for Which No Governmental Interests are Asserted 370 As to some of the restrictions on political activity imposed by Act 64, no governmental interest whatsoever has been proffered as a justification. Absent the assertion of a justifying governmental interest, any significant restraint on political speech should be struck down as per se unconstitutional. See Eu, 489 U.S. at 222, 109 S.Ct. 1013 (If the challenged law burdens the rights of political parties and their members, it can survive constitutional scrutiny only if the State shows that it advances a compelling state interest.) 371 First, no reason is offered for the adoption of the arbitrary and highly discriminatory two-year cycle for limiting contributions and expenditures. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2801(9), 2805(a), 2805a(a). A two-year cycle does not reduce the influence or access to officeholders of special interests, reduce time pressures on candidates, or increase citizen or voter confidence in government. Act 64's public financing provisions recognize the self-evident need for greater financing on the part of those who must run two campaigns rather than one. See id. §§ 2855(a), (b). Collapsing primary and general elections under a single expenditure limit is thus a flat-out suppression of speech for no asserted reason, save perhaps for the unspoken reason of incumbent protection, as discussed supra. 372 Similarly, no justification or governmental interest is offered for Act 64's treatment of a contribution to any party affiliate as a contribution to all affiliates, with the statutory requirement that all contributions to, and thus, expenditures by, all party affiliates—state and local—be from a single bank account. See id. §§ 2801(5), 2831; supra note 1. Because Act 64 limits contributions to, and related expenditures on behalf of, particular candidates by political parties on an aggregated basis, contributions to separate affiliates cannot serve as a conduit allowing individuals to evade the limits on single source contributions. See Colorado II, 533 U.S. at 464-65, 121 S.Ct. 2351 (permitting restriction of coordinated party expenditures to minimize circumvention of contribution limits). Neither the interests in eliminating corruption, saving candidates' time, nor increasing confidence in government are therefore served by aggregating contributions to affiliates of political parties. 373 While serving none of Act 64's asserted goals, the aggregated treatment of contributions to affiliates eliminates the right of local committees to be free from centralized control in raising funds for local party-building activities. One of the most vital and fertile areas of democratic political activity in America is the local party committee, which, while loosely related to larger party organizations, is the source of grassroots activities that permit citizens to participate and seek change. Local party activities are a critical means by which a changing public opinion is absorbed gradually into the political system, rather than going unheard until it reaches explosive force. Because these activities require funding, Act 64 directly impairs them. See Secretary of State Being Criticized for Fund Raising Ruling, Associated Press, May 28, 1999 (noting that leaders of both parties warn that the ruling would have the effect of undermining the goal of Vermont's new campaign finance law to encourage more grassroots political activity). See supra Part IV(a). 374 Freedom of association includes the right not only to engage in group activities but also to affiliate groups with one another, on a horizontal, vertical, or hierarchical basis, loosely or with centralized control. The choice is to be made by the citizens involved, not by government. See Timmons, 520 U.S. at 358, 117 S.Ct. 1364; Meyer, 486 U.S. at 424, 108 S.Ct. 1886; Buckley, 424 U.S. at 57, 96 S.Ct. 612. 375 Finally, no reason is given for applying expenditure limits to candidates who desire to fund their own campaigns. See generally Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805a(a). Such candidates already have access to themselves and need not spend excessive time fund-raising. Again, speech is suppressed for no reason. See Buckley, 424 U.S. at 44-45, 96 S.Ct. 612. 376 b) Buckley Forecloses the Asserted Justifications for Expenditure Limits 377 Turning to the reasons given by my colleagues as constitutional justifications for expenditure limits, each of them has already been considered and rejected by the Supreme Court. Buckley rejected in the most explicit terms the notion that government may, under a Constitution containing the First Amendment, limit the amount of political speech by candidates and ordinary citizens. See id. It is no surprise that many of the arguments made in favor of Act 64 rehash those considered in Buckley because Act 64 was intended by its proponents as a vehicle to overturn the Buckley ruling. See 2001 Memorandum, supra; Hearing on H. 28 Before the Vt. House Comm. on Local Gov't, 64th Biennial Sess. (1997) (statement of Anthony Pollina); Hearing on H. 28 Before the Vt. Senate Comm. on Gov't Operations, 64th Biennial Sess. (1997) (statement of Sen. William Doyle); Vt. House Comm. of Conf., Report on Campaign Finance, H. 28, 64th Biennial Sess. (1997). 378 For example, the question of special donor access or the appearance thereof was highlighted both by the Congress that enacted the expenditure limitations struck down in Buckley, see Minority Views on Report of the Comm. on House Admin. to Accompany H.R. 16090 (July 30, 1974), reprinted in Legislative History of Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, at 749 (1977), and by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which upheld those limitations and was reversed in Buckley. Buckley v. Valeo, 519 F.2d 821, 838 (D.C.Cir.1975), aff'd in part and rev'd in part, 424 U.S. 1, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976). That court expressly noted that [l]arge contributions are intended to, and do, gain access to the elected official, id., an observation interchangeable with language in my colleagues' opinion. To be sure, the Supreme Court did not use the word access in Buckley, but it did use the stronger term, improper influence. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 27, 45-46, 96 S.Ct. 612. Having held that corruption itself or the appearance thereof—bribes—was not sufficiently compelling to justify limits on expenditures by candidates, id. at 55, 96 S.Ct. 612, the Court hardly had to go on to say that access or the appearance of access—returning or taking a phone call from a donor—was also not compelling. Reducing bribes is generally regarded as a far more compelling interest than reducing phone calls. 379 It is also suggested that the practice of bundling contributions by those with common interests justifies expenditure limits. My colleagues assume that the practice of bundling was unknown at the time of Buckley. Maj. Op. at 118. 23 However, the concept of pooling contributions by persons with common interests is hardly new. Indeed, at the time of Buckley, proponents of the 1974 Act relied heavily on pooled contributions by various firms in particular industries as evidence of improper influence. See Senate Floor Debates on S. 3044 (Mar. 28, 1974, Apr. 3, 1974) (statements of Sens. Griffin, Baker), reprinted in Legislative History of Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, at 259, 365-66 (1977); House Floor Debates on H.R. 16090 (Aug. 8, 1974) (statement of Rep. Dickinson), reprinted in Legislative History of Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, at 917 (1977). An amendment in the House that would have prohibited pooling was introduced, voted on, and rejected. See Minority Views on Report of the Comm. on House Admin. to Accompany H.R. 16090 (July 30, 1974), reprinted in Legislative History of Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, at 752-53 (1977); House Floor Debates on H.R. 16090 (Aug. 7, 1974), reprinted in Legislative History of Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, at 858-59 (1977). 380 This was all explicitly before the Supreme Court in Buckley. In fact, bundling was considered so significant that the findings of the Buckley district court as to large contributions cataloged them by industry as well as by individual donor. See Joint Appendix at 86-143, Buckley (Nos. 75-436 and 75-437). In particular, much attention was given at the time of Buckley to the 1972 campaign contributions by the dairy industry, in which milk producers pooled a large sum and then broke it down into contributions by small committees to avoid disclosure. See Senate Floor Debates on S. 3044 (Mar. 26, 1974, Mar. 27, 1974, Mar. 28, 1974, Apr. 3, 1974, Apr. 4, 1974) (statements of Sens. Hathaway, Griffin, Hollings, Baker, Kennedy), reprinted in Legislative History of Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, at 205, 225, 257, 365, 376-77 (1977). This incident was a highly publicized scandal at the time. It was featured in the Court of Appeals decision that upheld expenditure limits, Buckley, 519 F.2d at 839 n. 36, and that was reversed by the Supreme Court, Buckley, 424 U.S. at 55, 96 S.Ct. 612. Finally, an example of bundling was mentioned during the oral argument in the Supreme Court in Buckley. 1976 Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States: 2 Buckley v. Valeo 729 (Phillip B. Kurland and Gerhard Casper, eds. 1977) (appellees' argument that disclosure of small contributions necessary because of the problem of culminating, of combining contributions, if you have a large number of people who are affiliated). The term bundling may be new, therefore, but the concept is long in the tooth. 381 My colleagues now emphasize a governmental interest mentioned only in passing in their original opinion, the belief that expenditure limits will reduce the time spent fundraising by candidates, with the hope that the extra time will be spent conferring with ordinary citizens. Maj. Op. at 120. This justification overlaps with the access issue and, to that extent, was decided in Buckley as discussed above. 382 In any event, the arguments regarding the time politicians spend fundraising were, as conceded by my colleagues, known and made before the Supreme Court in Buckley. Because my colleagues quote a commentator for the proposition that in Buckley, `candidate time protection was almost wholly ignored as a justification for campaign spending limits,' Maj. Op. at 120 (quoting Vincent Blasi, Free Speech and the Widening Gyre of Fund-Raising: Why Campaign Spending Limits May Not Violate the First Amendment After All, 94 Colum. L. Rev. 1281, 1285-86 & n.15 (1994)), I quote the pertinent passages from the briefs and lower court decision in the margin. The time-protection argument was relied upon by the Court of Appeals in Buckley in upholding the statute, 24 was the subject of an entire subsection of the brief filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Attorney General and Solicitor General, 25 was argued as a justification in the brief filed in the Supreme Court by intervening parties defending expenditure limits, 26 and was mentioned by the Supreme Court itself. 27 The claim that this issue was not fully before the Court in Buckley is therefore incorrect. 383 c) The Insufficiency of the Governmental Interests 384 Even putting aside Buckley 's binding precedent, the various interests asserted in defense of expenditure limits fail to satisfy First Amendment requirements. 1) Anti-Corruption 385 Act 64 drastically reduced the limits on contributions established in prior Vermont law. There is no evidence in the record that Act 64's new low limits on contributions alone will not suffice to eliminate any improper influence. All of the—largely sparse, anecdotal, and conclusory—evidence of improper influence dates from a time when the contribution limits were much higher. 386 Prior Vermont law allowed contributions of $1000 per election to any candidate. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(a) (1996). (amended 1997). As noted, Act 64 limits contributions to candidates for statewide office to $400, for the state senate to $300, and for the state house to $200. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(a). The reduction is greater than might be perceived because Act 64's contribution limits apply over a two-year cycle and related individual and party expenditures— e.g., mileage, house parties—must be counted in determining whether a donor has reached the limit. See id. § 2801(a), 2805(a), 2805a(a), 2809(a); see also supra Part III(b)-(e). 387 In assessing the anti-corruption effect of expenditure limits, my colleagues rely on a portrait of Vermont politics drawn from testimony by a handful of proponents of Act 64. That portrait is essentially as follows. The money spent on campaigns has been spiraling over the forty or more years in which Vermont has toyed with expenditure limits. See 1997 Vt. Laws P.A. 64 (H. 28) (finding no. 1); Maj. Op. at 101-02, 124-25. The urge to raise campaign money has increased accordingly, see id. at 124-25, leading to an arms race caused by the fear of being vastly outspent, id. at 127, in which, because one candidate may, for example, buy materials for yard signs, others must do so also, see Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 148 (Elizabeth Ready). We are also told that candidates for legislative office have historically spent less in their campaigns than the limits set by Act 64. See Maj. Op. at 130. In concrete terms, this means that the average campaign cost, the arms race, for single-member Vermont House or Senate races has over 40 years spiraled to $2,000 and $4,000 respectively. See generally Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2805a(a)(4), (a)(5). 388 We are also told that raising these sums creates such a dependence among legislators on large contributors—at the time, a $1,000 maximum—that for the entire two years after each election, the legislators engage in perpetual fundraising, Maj. Op. at 97, and have little time to talk with ordinary citizens. See id. at 124-25. The selections from the testimony highlighted in my colleagues' opinion portray members of the Vermont legislature as susceptible to corruption and so obsessed with soliciting or conferring with cash donors that they have very little time to confer with ordinary citizens. See Maj. Op. at 123 (describing candidates as being locked away while fundraising instead of out with the public because candidate time is effectively for sale). 389 The record justifying Act 64's massive regulation of political speech is not strong; in fact, it is pitifully weak. Even if Vermont legislative candidates had to raise cash amounts well in excess of $4,000, this task would hardly leave them so obsessively dependent on large contributions (now a maximum over a two-year cycle of $400, $300, $200, depending on office), see Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(a), that large contributors would thereafter be able to demand the right to most of the legislators' free time. What little actual evidence there is to the contrary is on its face gross hyperbole. For example, the testimony of a person described by my colleagues as a lobbyist, who offered descriptions of Governor Dean meeting only with contributors, Trial Tr. vol. IX at 195-96 (Anthony Pollina), is heavily relied upon in their opinion, Maj. Op. at 122, 123-24. In fact, that person was a lobbyist for the passage of Act 64, whose success in that regard— with the Governor's support—entirely belies his assertions about elected officials listening only to large contributors. 390 There are also, of course, the accusations of corruption with precisely the same scripted sound-bites that are used in every talk-show discussion of these issues. In fact, my colleagues' opinion overstates this testimony by omitting important qualifications offered by the witnesses relied upon, such as their lack of knowledge of any legislative vote ever cast solely because of a campaign contribution, Trial Tr. vol. VII at 48-49 (Toby Young); Trial Tr. vol. VII at 105 (Cheryl Rivers) (I am not talking about selling votes.), their denial of present improper influence in contrast to their fear of future behavior under the old contribution limits, Trial Tr. vol. VII at 37 (Toby Young) (opining that Vermont elections are clean); id. at 50 (opining that an official would grant preferential access to a thousand-dollar donor); Trial Tr. vol. VII at 137-38 (Cheryl Rivers) (I don't think the present situation is good, and I think if we don't do something, it's going to get worse.); Trial Tr. vol. IX at 167-69 (Elizabeth Ready) (accepting $1000 and $2000 contributions appeared improper though she was not influenced), and their knowledge of the ready access of ordinary citizens to lawmakers, Trial Tr. vol. VII at 27-28 (Toby Young) (stating that typical state public officials in Vermont will see anyone who wants to see them). 391 The only particularized evidence of improper influence relied upon by my colleagues consists of one anecdote. It involved widely reported meetings of major dairy companies with unnamed officials when such meetings were denied to smaller dairy organizations, Maj. Op. at 122. We are asked to assume in this case that unspecified contributions—in contrast to, perhaps, numbers of voters involved—were the decisive factor. Moreover, not only are the details of this episode unknown, but it also took place before Act 64's limits on contributions. It is therefore not particularly relevant. 392 In any event, the First Amendment does not permit the suppression of speech based on such untested anecdotal evidence. See, e.g., United States v. Playboy Entm't Group, Inc., 529 U.S. 803, 820-21, 120 S.Ct. 1878, 146 L.Ed.2d 865 (2000) (requiring more than anecdotal evidence of signal bleed problem in support of a regulation requiring broadcasters to fully scramble sexually-oriented programming); Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 567, 89 S.Ct. 1243, 22 L.Ed.2d 542 (1969) (Given the present state of knowledge, the State may no more prohibit mere possession of obscene matter on the ground that it may lead to antisocial conduct than it may prohibit possession of chemistry books on the ground that they may lead to the manufacture of homemade spirits.). 393 Moreover, if the claims of widespread, improper influence are true, anecdotes should not be the only available evidence. Disclosure of contributions has been required in Vermont for years, offering documentary support for the claims, if accurate, of dependence on large or bundled contributions and of the influence of those contributions. See, e.g., Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2811(a)(1)-(4) (effective July 1, 1982) (amended 1997) (requiring campaign reports for candidates' contributions and expenditures). The lack of reference to available hard evidence of who gave what to whom even under the prior higher contribution limits suggests that the portrait of corruption painted by my colleagues is vastly overdrawn. 394 When the Supreme Court decided Buckley, it had before it detailed records of actual large, bundled contributions and the amount of out-of-pocket expenditures by candidates. 28 See, e.g., Buckley, 424 U.S. at 32-34 & nn. 35-40, 96 S.Ct. 612; Joint Appendix at 264, 483, Buckley (Nos. 75-436 and 75-437); see also supra note 22. Nevertheless, it struck down the expenditure limits as facially unconstitutional. See Buckley, 424 U.S. at 54-55, 96 S.Ct. 612. Here, the opposite result is reached based on anecdotal evidence, even though better evidence, if corruption exists, is available. 29 2) Time Protection 395 I turn now to the claim that expenditure limits are necessary because endless fundraising[] drastically reduces opportunities that candidates have to meet with non-contributing citizens. Maj. Op. at 122. As noted, this argument was squarely before the Supreme Court in Buckley. See supra notes 24-27. It was, understandably, given only passing attention by the Court because it is not compelling in any sense. The time protection argument, baldly stated, is that law can force candidates to engage in more personal communications with voters by limiting candidate spending on other means of communication. 396 The evidence in the record of excessive time consumption reveals that it is not a testable proposition but can be repeatedly stated as fact and in exaggerated terms. There is no doubt that candidate time is spent fundraising and that some of it is wearisome. However, there is also no doubt that one can say that candidates spend too much time fundraising without knowing how much time is actually spent, because no one else knows either. This particular record contains almost no evidence of the specific time spent fundraising. To the extent that a particular amount of time was described, it was brief, such as an afternoon. Trial Tr. vol. IX at 151 (Elizabeth Ready) (That afternoon that I had to raise that extra money, I wasn't in front of the Grand Union nor was I going door to door.). 397 Time protection is a useful political argument for a number of additional reasons. It allows legislative proponents of expenditure limits to avoid saying that limits are needed because they themselves might be tempted to vote for or against a measure solely to get a campaign contribution. Instead, they can say, without fear of any future verification, that they need more time to spend with ordinary citizens. 398 The time protection argument is also useful because it can easily be exaggerated. There is often no dividing line between donors and ordinary citizens who support a candidate or between fundraising and other campaign events. Meetings with supportive voters can often be described either as fundraising or as person-to-person contact with voters, depending on the point to be made. The type of campaign events at which money is raised might well be held even if no contributions were sought. After all, even a holiday dinner with family members can be described as being locked away with large donors. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(f) (contributions by candidates and their immediate families unlimited). 399 In a more sinister vein, time protection is a particularly useful argument for incumbents. It is on its face either a remarkable example of incumbent self-sacrifice or a remarkable example of self-interest. Should we believe that incumbent legislators, who generally can raise campaign money more easily than non-incumbents, want major-party and third-party challengers to spend less time fundraising so that the challengers can spend more time engaged in supposedly more effective personal meetings with ordinary citizens? Or, is it possible that incumbents may want to stress the value of person-to-person contact over other methods of communication with voters, knowing that those other methods of communication with voters will still be substantially available to incumbents even under expenditure limits while not—or much less—available to potential challengers. For incumbents, the time protection argument is less about increasing person-to-person contact with voters than it is about limiting their opponents' overall contact with voters. Time protection and incumbent protection thus usefully coincide. Finally, person-to-person contact between candidates and voters will not increase under an incumbent-rigged system. Potential challengers will be deterred from running, and incumbents who will be protected by the law's expenditure limits will have less need for person-to-person contact. 400 Governmental interests that are so speculative —or incumbent protective—are not sufficient to override significant First Amendment interests. E.g., Stanley, 394 U.S. at 567, 89 S.Ct. 1243. 401 In any event, Act 64 actually diverts candidates from meeting with voters. As my colleagues concede, limiting the size of individual contributions necessarily increases the amount of time that must be spent raising a particular amount of money. Maj. Op. at 123. Moreover, expenditure limits also impose time consuming tasks on candidates themselves, particularly because expenditure limits may preclude the hiring of staff. As noted, expenditure limits require candidates to mapout, monitor, and put values on activities by supporters or party organizations that involve related expenditures, which, if they exceed $50 with regard to a single source, must be totaled within the permissible expenditure and contribution limits. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2809(a)-(c); see also supra Part III(e). Every campaign event involving supporters— e.g. buying yard signs and driving to where they will be placed, holding meetings or dinners—must involve close calculations by candidates as to whether the particular activities constitute expenditures or related expenditures and what value should be attributed to particular in-kind expenditures. Act 64's provisions will actually force candidates to spend more time than ever on non-speech-related activities. 3) Public Confidence in Government 402 This brings me to the argument of Act 64's proponents that the expenditure limits of Act 64 will restore public confidence in government and thereby increase citizen and voter participation in elections. Of course, every attempt to suppress speech is based on claims that the speech in question, if allowed to go on freely, will induce behavior that is undesirable. Critics of literature, theater, or television with explicitly sexual or violent themes claim that such speech may induce the behavior portrayed. See, e.g., 1 American Psychological Association, Report of the American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth, at 6 (1992), available at http://www.apa.org/pi/pii/violence-and-youth.pdf (stating that exposure to violence in mass media increases the risk of youth involvement in violence). Those who would censor political speech will always argue that such speech will reduce confidence in government. I have no doubt that supporters of the Alien and Sedition Acts made such arguments and that many incumbent officeholders view vigorous opponents as undermining confidence in government. 403 Governmental suppression of speech must be based on a compelling demonstration that the speech will incite conduct—here an alleged indifference to politics on the part of citizens—that government has a right to prevent. See Boos v. Barry, 485 U.S. 312, 335, 108 S.Ct. 1157, 99 L.Ed.2d 333 (1988) (Brennan, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) (Our traditional analysis rejects such a priori categorical judgments based on the content of speech, requiring governments to regulate based on actual congestion, visual clutter, or violence rather than based on predictions that speech with a certain content will induce those effects.) (internal citations omitted); Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 508, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969) ([I]n our system, undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression.). I do not doubt that government can and ought to take steps to enhance citizen confidence, but suppressing political activity will not encourage either more confidence or more political activity. 404 In fact, no little part of the public confidence argument is a quintessential self-fulfilling prophesy. The confidence of Vermont citizens in their state government is unlikely to be substantially enhanced so long as Act 64's proponents make unsupported claims about the corrupt nature of that government. 405 In any event, an indifference to politics cannot be traced to excessive spending for electoral purposes. To the contrary, the New Hampshire 1968 primary and the Vermont 2000 election involved heavy citizen participation because of voter interest in the issues and the critical fact that candidates who were divided on those issues could raise and spend money debating them. The theory of Act 64, as stated in the legislative findings, is that public involvement decreases as spending increases. See 1997 Vt. Laws P.A. 64 (H. 28) (findings nos. 4 and 10). However, record amounts were spent on the Vermont 2000 gubernatorial election, see Ross Sneyd, Campaign 2000 Involved Lots of Spending, Associated Press, Dec. 18, 2000, but a full—perhaps also record breaking—34.5% more people voted in the 2000 election than in the prior gubernatorial election. See 2000 Election Results, supra. 406 Nor is there experience elsewhere to the contrary. Before 1976, presidential general elections were privately funded with no limits on contributions and expenditures. Claims of a lack of citizen confidence were made. From 1976 through 1988—before the era in which so-called soft money played a growing role—presidential general elections were fully funded by government and subject to expenditure limitations. No appreciable increase in turnout or confidence in government was noted. 407 As in the one-size-fits all concept of an average election, there is much in the public confidence argument to fear. Proponents of Act 64 rely upon evidence such as a poll showing that 75% of voters believe that large corporations have too much influence and on a newspaper article (published by a very large corporation) stating similar conclusions. If polls suggesting that citizens believe that some groups have too much power demonstrate a governmental interest sufficient to silence those groups, political speech, including freedom of the press, cannot be protected. 408 Act 64 reduces the contribution limits for statewide races to $400, Senate races to $300, and House races $200. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805(a). There is nothing in the record of this case to suggest that these limits are not sufficiently low to dispel any possibility of corruption or the appearance of corruption, at least as viewed by reasonable persons. See Buckley, 424 U.S. at 55, 96 S.Ct. 612 (holding that [t]he interest in alleviating the corrupting influence of large contributions is served by the Act's contribution limitations and disclosure provisions, and therefore does not justify campaign expenditure limitations). The proponents of Act 64 mention only hypothesized, large, cash contributions as leading to an improper influence on government. There is no evidence whatsoever that expenditures by supporters for meet the candidate events, or that supporters' use of a residence, computer or phone, purchase of stamps, or driving to meetings have ever caused a problem that calls for redress. 409 Moreover, there is nothing in the record to suggest that disclosure of amounts and sources of a candidate's campaign funds, in conjunction with low contribution limits and/or a form of public financing, is not the proper democratic method of enhancing voters' confidence in the character of the people they elect. Nor is there anything in the record to suggest that a reduction of campaign activity, in particular grassroots activity, will lead to persons of better character being elected, particularly under the terms of a law enacted by those of purported lesser character. 410 The theory of Act 64 is that less political advocacy is better for us as a polity because too much political activity is engaged in by powerful groups. Because these groups are theoretically able to use every means of communication as a conduit of influence, political activity at every level must be reduced. Act 64 is, therefore, designed to impose relative silence on everyone, with two exceptions. First, incumbents will ensure that they can communicate with the public. Second, the truly rich and powerful can still engage in constitutionally protected independent political activities or buy a media outlet. Expenditure limits do not limit the influence of a Richard Mellon Scaife, a George Soros, or the politically concerned persons that publish the Washington Post, New York Times, National Review, and New Republic. Candidate expenditure limits in fact enhance the power of these wealthy individuals to set the political agenda while the ordinary citizen—who must speak, if at all, through organizational activity—is silenced. 411 d) Stopping the Arms Race, Effective Advocacy, and Incumbent Protection 412 As noted, the term arms race has been much used in this litigation, see, e.g., Appellants' Br. at 26-27; Maj. Op. at 117, 119, 122, 123, 127, 132, 134; Trial Tr. vol. VIII at 57 (Peter Smith); Trial Tr. vol. VII at 56 (Cheryl Rivers), but in a way that suggests that it is so obviously an appropriate analogy that an explanation of its relevance is unnecessary. When examined, however, the analogy has no logical or factual support. It is also antithetical to the First Amendment because it suggests that government may set a low maximum limit on political speech and, to boot, one that is particularly harmful to challengers. 413 1) The Arms Race 414 The arms race analogy is a useful— and therefore oft-used—political slogan for proponents of Act 64 because it suggests subliminally a catastrophic spectre of millions being killed and perhaps elimination of the species itself. However, the analogy between nuclear-tipped ICBM's—which many people would want to eliminate completely —and political advertisements—in Vermont, yard signs—is not one that meets the straight-face test, much less one that fits well within First Amendment jurisprudence, and this aspect of the analogy is unworthy of further discussion. 415 What other lessons the slogan arms race is deemed to further are difficult to detect because it is used as an argument-stopper rather than argument-advancer. It may suggest that much of political spending is superfluous—beyond a certain point additional spending does not change votes. This is a suggestion that posits candidates who keep spending even though it will not benefit them. If so, the empirical basis for that suggestion is not visible in this record. Nor is there a visible basis for believing that the particular point at which further persuasion stops is the low expenditure limits imposed by Act 64. 416 Perhaps the implication is that spending becomes superfluous at some point but candidates have no idea where that point is and continue to spend anyway. However, if the critical point cannot be determined by a candidate in a particular campaign, it certainly cannot be determined on a one-size-fits-all basis by a self-interested legislature or by a reviewing court. 417 My colleagues apparently do not use arms race to imply superfluous spending. Rather, they perceive the race to result from the fear of being vastly outspent by better financed opponents. Maj. Op. at 127. They do not deny that on election night, election officials do not count the dollars spent by a candidate to determine the winner, and thus, that a fear of being outspent necessarily associates spending with voter persuasion. See id. at 123 (quoting Act 64 supporter for proposition that contribution limits without expenditure limits would lead to competitions to see who could raise the most money and outspend their opponent and therefore win the race) (emphasis added). Arms race is therefore a pejorative method of describing competition over voter persuasion, the very heart of the democratic process. 418 The proponents of Act 64, like my colleagues, also use the slogan arms race to argue that any such race should be prevented because, in their view, (supposedly) low cost, person-to-person contacts are the most effective campaign tactics. Trial Tr. vol. IX at 143, 150 (Elizabeth Ready) (personal contact more effective than paid media); Trial Tr. vol. VII at 100 (Cheryl Rivers) (challenger spending more than incumbent is not serious detriment to incumbent, who can make it up with grass roots effort). Therefore, campaign expenditures above a certain level (somehow determined) can be eliminated without disadvantaging any candidate. 419 What is not explained, however, is why, if spending above that somehow determined level is ineffective, such spending by a candidate is feared by the candidate's opponent. The answer must be, and is, that the additional spending does persuade voters. As the incumbent Senator, whose testimony is relied upon by my colleagues, testified, she had to spend more than she wished because her opponents' ads and yard signs caused voters to wonder whether she was running for reelection. Trial Tr. vol. IX at 148 (Elizabeth Ready) ([W]hen everybody has yard signs out and everybody's on the radio and the TV, your constituents will say, Aren't you running Elizabeth? I see that so and so has got a million yard signs out. You don't have any yard signs.) Her opponents, in short, had gotten the attention of voters, who appear to have been more oblivious to her person-to-person campaign than she would have liked. In fact, as used in the present record, arms race is a term by which incumbents describe contested elections. 420 2) Effective Advocacy 421 I turn now to the test adopted by my colleagues to determine whether the level of expenditure limits set by Act 64 is unconstitutional. That test asks whether the limit is so low that it prevents effective advocacy by driv[ing] the sound of a candidate's voice below the level of notice. Maj. Op. at 128-29 (internal citation omitted). Two aspects of this test must be emphasized. First, it is a minimum speech test, expressly authorizing government to silence candidates once they reach the level of notice (assuming no less restrictive methods are available). Second, my colleagues, by equating (understated) average past expenditures with the threshold level of notice, id., further reduce the minimum at which government can silence candidates, see supra Part IV(b)(1). 422 Despite the unconditional statements by the Supreme Court that contribution limits `entai[l] only a marginal restriction upon the contributor's ability to engage in free communication,' McConnell, 124 S.Ct. at 655 (quoting Buckley, 424 U.S. at 20, 96 S.Ct. 612), while limitations on expenditures [are] direct restraints on speech, id. at 647, my colleagues take the effective advocacy/level of notice standard from a discussion of contribution limits in Shrink, 528 U.S. at 395-96, 120 S.Ct. 897, and force it into the quite different context of expenditure limits. 423 Contributions pose the spectre of improper influence and may be substantially limited. Colorado II, 533 U.S. at 440-41, 121 S.Ct. 2351 (limits on contributions are more clearly justified by a link to political corruption than limits on other kinds of political spending are). The language taken by my colleagues from Shrink says no more than that, even given the governmental interest in reducing improper influence, contribution limits may not be set so low as to prevent an otherwise viable candidate with large numbers of potential small donors from raising enough money even to be noticed by voters. 528 U.S. at 395-96, 120 S.Ct. 897. It does not say that such a candidate may, having raised a substantial amount in small contributions, be prevented from spending more than what (government believes) is needed to reach the minimum level of notice. Indeed, Shrink itself repeatedly and conspicuously emphasized the constitutional distinction between contribution limits and expenditure limits. 528 U.S. at 386, 120 S.Ct. 897 (expenditure limits [are] direct restraints on speech, which nonetheless suffer[] little direct effect from contribution limits); id. at 387, 120 S.Ct. 897 (noting a similar difference between expenditure and contribution limitations in their impacts on the association right); id. (restrictions on contributions require less compelling justification than restrictions on independent spending) (internal citation omitted). This distinction was recently reaffirmed by the Court in McConnell, 124 S.Ct. at 655 (reaffirming practice of subject[ing] restrictions on campaign expenditures to closer scrutiny than limits on campaign contributions because contribution limits, unlike limits on expenditures, entail only a marginal restriction on the contributor's ability to engage in free communication). 424 Unlike expenditure limits, which directly restrain speech, Buckley made clear that [t]he quantity of communication by the contributor does not increase perceptibly with the size of the contribution, since the expression rests solely on the undifferentiated, symbolic act of contributing. 424 U.S. at 21, 96 S.Ct. 612. A limitation on the amount of money a person may give to a candidate or campaign organization thus involves little direct restraint on his political communication ... [because] the transformation of contributions into political debate involves speech by someone other than the contributor. Id. 425 It is from this premise—as long as the candidate can speak effectively, the contributor also can speak—that the effective advocacy test was born. See also McConnell, 124 S.Ct. at 655-56 (Because the communicative value of large contributions inheres mainly in their ability to facilitate the speech of their recipients, we have said that contribution limits impose serious burdens on free speech only if they are so low as to prevent candidates and political committees from amassing the resources necessary for effective advocacy.) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted). In no way do the cases evaluating contribution limits use the effective advocacy test to restrain the direct political speech occasioned by expenditures. 426 Were these cases read otherwise, they would represent a complete abandonment of the First Amendment's standard of a free, robust discussion in which citizens retain control over the quantity and range of debate on public issues in a political campaign, even when those who control the government believe the spending to be wasteful, excessive, or unwise. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 57, 96 S.Ct. 612. That test, which emphasizes freedom, would be replaced by a test that permits government to cap the amount of permissible speech. 3) Incumbent Protection 427 The rhetoric of the effective advocacy/level of notice standard based on average past expenditures conceals a legal test lethal to challengers. A level of notice is something that incumbents generally have and challengers generally lack. Under my colleagues' test, therefore, an incumbent's campaign starts at the level of notice at which a challenger's campaign may be stopped by government. This anti-challenger effect is aggravated by the use of average past expenditures to determine the level of notice. See Maj. Op. at 129-31. As detailed above, see supra Part IV(b)(1), past averages, even if accurately calculated—a result not attainable given Act 64's new definitions—include uncontested, or barely contested, elections. See Trial Exs. vol. III at E-0967 (appellees' expert's calculation of average expenditures, which includes low-spending candidates whose spending is unknown by assuming they spent $500, the maximum allowed before filing is required); id. at E-1019 (appellees' expert's report criticizing appellants' expert for failing to include low-spending candidates, whose spending is unknown, in his averages of campaign expenditures). 428 e) The Excessive Discretion Accorded Administrators 429 In their first opinion, my colleagues, noting that [i]t is beyond cavil that an opponent of the Act will argue its ambiguities and statutory peculiarities, addressed the merits of that argument and stated that the discretion accorded administrators by Act 64 was not constitutionally excessive. Landell v. Sorrell, 2002 WL 1803685, slip op. at 9156 (withdrawn). They now argue that the issue need not be addressed. Maj. Op. at 136-37, n.26. I disagree. 430 The discretion issue is clearly before us. The degree to which Act 64 limits political activity is the first part of the calculus that is before the court. The second part of the calculus is the sufficiency of the reasons proffered in its support. Where only acts of administrative or judicial discretion can mitigate the harshness of restrictions on protected activity so as to render the justifications for the restrictions constitutionally sufficient, the constitutionality of that discretion itself is obviously put in issue. 431 Mild or incidental restrictions on political activity require less compelling justifications than do harsh restrictions. FEC v. Beaumont, 539 U.S. 146, 123 S.Ct. 2200, 2210, 156 L.Ed.2d 179 (2003) (level of scrutiny applied to political financial restrictions is based on the importance of the political activity at issue to effective speech or political association) (internal citation omitted). Much of what Act 64 says harshly limits political activity; much else is left to future elaboration. Perhaps we may rely upon the wisdom of Vermont's Secretaries of State, Attorneys General, and its courts, to mitigate the harsh effects of Act 64's language and to resolve its pervasive ambiguities in favor of freedom, rather than suppression, of political speech. If so, the reasons offered in support of the Act might seem sufficient. However, mitigating rules— e.g. reducing the effect on the press or allowing local party affiliates self-financing—would involve wholly discretionary or arbitrary decisions, and the very existence of that discretion is itself a constitutional problem that cannot be avoided. 432 Limits on campaign expenditures are like all limits on speech. If the limits are triggered, further speech is forbidden. It is standard First Amendment jurisprudence that such a restriction on speech must be precisely crafted to avoid vesting those who administer the law with excessive discretion as to its interpretation. See Forsyth, 505 U.S. at 131, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (requiring narrow, objective, and definite standards). The requirement that a law regulating speech embody workable and known standards is necessary both to alert those who are regulated to its terms, see Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030, 1048, 111 S.Ct. 2720, 115 L.Ed.2d 888 (1991) (requiring regulation of speech to give fair notice to those to whom it is directed), and to prevent enforcers from making decisions based on impermissible grounds, see id. at 1050-51, 111 S.Ct. 2720 (The prohibition against vague regulations of speech is based in part on the need to eliminate the impermissible risk of discriminatory enforcement.); Forsyth, 505 U.S. at 131, 112 S.Ct. 2395 (noting danger of censorship where regulation allows excessive enforcement discretion). 433 Act 64 simply lacks discernible criteria for the many interpretive and valuation questions that it creates. If there is to be compliance with Act 64—instead of candidates and their supporters generally ignoring it as a silly law—there must be constant interpretation by the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Vermont courts with regard to the vast number of questions that will arise election-by-election, campaign-by-campaign, and day-by-day. The answers to those questions are the equivalent of granting or denying a permit to speak. In interpreting the statute, however, the Secretary of State and the Vermont courts are afforded almost no guidance except for the manipulable proposition that the influence of special interests is to be reduced and that of ordinary citizens increased. 434 For example, the statute says nothing about the payment of debts or wind-down expenses of prior campaigns during the next two-year cycle. See 1999 Memorandum, supra. It is also unclear whether the (paltry) exception for expenses for meet the candidate events applies only to party-sponsored events or all such affairs. See supra notes 14-15; see generally Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2809(d)(1)-(3). 435 If Act 64 is enforced, valuation questions regarding the donation or use of anything of value will themselves be a constant issue. When the Act was passed, the Secretary of State set the cost of mileage at 31¢. Although travel on behalf of a candidate's campaign is a related expenditure counting toward the contribution limit, see Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2809(c), she has arbitrarily not changed that figure notwithstanding the substantially increased price of gas and the pervasive availability of public and private mileage guidelines. In fact, employees of the State of Vermont are compensated at 37 ½¢ per mile at present. Vermont Dept. of Personnel, Collective Bargaining Agreements, at http://www.vermontpersonnel.org/employee/labor_cba.cfm (effective July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2005) (setting mileage reimbursement for Vermont employees at level established by the U.S. General Services Administration, currently 37½¢). Given the two-year cycle and the low contribution/related expenditure limits, mileage valuations are of enormous importance, but those valuations appear essentially to be matters of caprice under Act 64. 436 There will also be ubiquitous questions concerning whether particular activities of officeholders, candidates, or would-be candidates have the purpose of influencing an election. See generally Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2801. Indeed, the Supreme Court stated in Buckley that the last-quoted phrase was unconstitutionally vague unless more narrowly confined than it is in Act 64. See supra note 6. There is also little guidance as to what conduct is an affirmative action to become a candidate, see supra notes 9-10, or what professional services are donations or related expenditures by a firm rather than volunteer services. See id. §§ 2801(1), 2809. 437 Furthermore, the definition of related expenditures can provoke thousands of questions regarding actions of individuals or political parties as to which the answer turns — after a potentially intrusive inquiry into the fine details of what candidates and political parties want to do or did, what they said, and what they thought — on what was the primary thrust of the activity. See Appendix A. In addressing such questions, the Secretary herself has noted that the likelihood of so many different factual circumstances arising prevents the drafting of precise rules regarding whether particular efforts by a party will be related expenditures on behalf of candidates — one of the most important questions arising under Act 64. See id. 438 All of these issues are serious, bristling with First Amendment implications, and their resolution will oft-times award an election to one candidate rather than another. If a party's poll is deemed a related expenditure on behalf of a candidate for the House, most or all of that candidate's expenditure limits for two elections may be exhausted. If a particular activity by an incumbent legislator is deemed an expenditure, rather than the performance of an official duty, that legislator may be barred from driving the family automobile to the local town green to make a speech during the campaign. If the activity is not an expenditure, the incumbent legislator may be allowed to engage freely in very helpful electoral activities that are denied to his or her opponent. If a candidate has a supporter who is a lawyer and whose professional services are not deemed related expenditures, that candidate will have a great advantage over another whose supporters are not lawyers, including the ability to bring litigation against the opponent that will exhaust the opponent's campaign funds. A ruling allowing lawyers to contribute professional services without counting such services as contributions or related expenditures is hardly out of the question under Act 64, even though lawyers are not less apt than other citizens to seek favors from elected officials for themselves or their clients. 439 The Secretary of State's opinions allowing partners to make double donations — once by the partnership, once by the individual partners — and endorsing the legality of pass-the-hat fundraisers in which donors are allowed to remain anonymous and on the honor system as to how much they give are only the first examples of how Act 64 will come to mean what the Secretary of State and Vermont courts say it means. See 2001 Guide, supra. Mileage is now computed at 31¢ no matter what the price of gas. See 2001 Memorandum, supra. Such uncabined discretion cannot be squared with the First Amendment's requirements that speech be regulated according to spelled out and precise criteria. 440 Equally important, such discretion cannot be squared with increasing confidence in government, which, in enforcing Act 64 against those running for government office, will necessarily appear inefficient and arbitrary. Only an organ of government can administer and interpret these laws. However, that interpretation consumes time when time is of the essence 30 — Appendix A is a letter dated December 3, 1999, responding to an inquiry dated October 8 — and is susceptible to colorable claims of partisan influence. 441 In Vermont, the purported author of Act 64 was denied public financing because his party took a poll that, if attributed to his candidacy, would be a related expenditure causing him to exceed the maximum contribution and expenditure limits for candidates eligible for public financing. See Ross Sneyd, Progressives' Poll Raises Question About Public Financing, Associated Press, Feb. 21, 2002 (describing Anthony Pollina's violation of the campaign finance law). The Democratic party then objected to his receipt of public financing. See Ross Sneyd, Democrats Ask that Pollina Be Disqualified from Public Financing, Associated Press, Feb. 28, 2002. The Secretary of State and the Attorney General, both Democrats, undertook an investigation into the activities of the candidate's party. See Ross Sneyd, Progressives Sue to Ensure Public Financing for Pollina, Associated Press, Mar. 12, 2002; see also Ross Sneyd, Pollina's Lawyer Says He Won't Cooperate with AG's Probe, Associated Press, Mar. 22, 2002. The candidate was then quoted as saying, quite understandably, You have the Democratic Party asking the Democratic Attorney General based on an opinion of a Democratic secretary of state to investigate a Progressive Party candidate. Christopher Graff, Anthony Pollina's Campaign Demeans Legislators, Associated Press, Mar. 17, 2002. A system in which partisan politicians investigate and make rulings on how vigorous a campaign their opponents may wage is not a confidence-builder.