Opinion ID: 787590
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the burden on protected speech

Text: 299 a) The Burden on Grassroots Political Activity 300 I begin with Act 64's burdening of grass-roots political activities, not only because such activities are core-protected speech under the First Amendment—not to say indispensable to our democracy—but also because proponents of Act 64 purport to justify its ubiquitously restrictive provisions in the name of increasing and enhancing such activities. See 1997 Vt. Laws P.A. 64 (H. 28) (findings nos. 6 and 8); Trial Tr. vol. IX at 124, 131 (Elizabeth Ready). In fact, Act 64 relentlessly limits such activities and often renders them impossible. Indeed, the Act's most intrusive impact is not on the rich and powerful, who if necessary can engage in constitutionally protected independent political activity, but on the ordinary citizen, who needs to participate in organized activity to have a political voice. 301 As the Supreme Court noted in Buckley, even the humblest kind of political activity requires the expenditure of resources. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 19, 96 S.Ct. 612. If the law as drafted is upheld, the quality and quantity of grassroots activities will be severely diminished, although one may question whether a free people will even attempt serious compliance with a law that, were the constitutional stakes not so great, might easily be regarded as an act of legislative silliness. See infra Part VI(d) (failure of Act 64 supporters to comply with its reporting requirements); infra note 32 (reporting mileage expenses in round numbers, despite per mile valuation of 31¢); supra note 4 (lapel buttons and bumper stickers must identify who paid for them, the payor's address, and the candidate benefited). 1) Burden on Volunteer Activity 302 As noted, Act 64 treats all related expenditures as contributions and, when they exceed $50, as expenditures by the candidate whose candidacy was supported. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2809(b). Related expenditures must therefore be counted in determining whether the candidate has complied with Act 64's spending limits. Because in-kind expenditures are included within related expenditures, any supporter engaging in the most common kind of political activities must keep detailed records over a two-year period of their value— every mile driven, every stamp used, every use of a residence for campaign events, refreshments, pads, pencils, use of phones, etc.—so that the total amount of such in-kind expenditures can be determined. If a supporter's related expenditures, alone or when added to monetary contributions to a candidate, reach the contribution limit, the supporter must stop all activities—even driving to a campaign event—or violate the law. 303 For example, if a supporter holds a meet the candidate event in his or her house, the value of the space used, possibly the costs of refreshments, 15 and the purchase of stamps and envelopes for mailing invitations to local citizens are all related expenditures. See 1999 Memorandum, supra. Vermont's Secretary of State has stated that it usually takes one hundred invitations to attract twenty persons to a meet the candidate event. See id. Thirty-seven dollars would thus be used for postage alone for one event for twenty people. See United States Postal Service, First-Class Mail Rate Highlights, available at http://www.usps.com/rate-case/first.htm. As the Secretary of State of Vermont has noted, such meet the candidate events are therefore severely limited by Act 64. See 1999 Memorandum, supra. 304 Adding to Act 64's intrusiveness on grassroots activities is its treatment of such related expenditures as expenditures by the candidate. Driving to meetings is among the most garden variety of grass-roots political activities. But, under the law, a supporter who averages seven miles per month over the two-year cycle will have exceeded $50 in mileage expenses, and the candidate in question must treat that and all other resource-consuming activities by the individual as campaign expenditures. 305 One effect is to prevent a candidate's supporters from exercising free choice as to what activities to undertake. Because the candidate's total expenditures are limited, the activities of all supporters must be coordinated and controlled top-down by the candidate for two full years so that the candidate can budget a campaign and not have to end it prematurely because of belatedly discovered related expenditures in excess of $50 that exhaust the expenditure limits. Were that to happen, a candidate, or any supporter over the $50 limit, would not even be able to drive the family car to the local town green to make a speech. 16 306 Act 64 therefore creates great incentives for campaigns to reduce the level of grassroots activities. The danger of unexpectedly reaching the expenditure limits will require a campaign to monitor, at a cost of time and resources, those grassroots activities it allows. Fewer such activities will be allowed because of these monitoring costs and because expenditure limits require that priority be given to activities that reach the largest number of voters, such as media advertising. 2) Burden on Local Party-Funded Activity 307 Many grassroots political activities are sponsored and subsidized by local political party affiliates. See Trial Tr. vol. IX at 138-39 (Elizabeth Ready) (party helps with grass roots organizing, voter I.D., and get-out-the-vote). Act 64 diminishes almost to the point of elimination financial support for local party activity by treating all state, county, and local party committees as a single fundraising unit for purposes of raising, and therefore spending, money. Because all contributions must go to the state party account, all expenditures by every local committee must necessarily be funded out of it. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2801(5), 2831; see supra note 1. The effect is, first, to reduce severely the amount of funding for such activity—under the limits on party related expenditures and contributions—and, second, to force political parties into some form of top-down control—under the single unit/single-bank-account rule for contributions to parties. See Secretary of State Being Criticized for Fund Raising Ruling, Associated Press, May 28, 1999 (reporting that both Republican and Democratic party leaders were shocked by the single unit rule); supra note 1. A town committee of a party may not even hold an organizational event with refreshments for its members without obtaining the modest funding needed from the statewide authority. 308 Moreover, limits on contributions and expenditures force political decisionmakers to give priority to activities that reach the largest number of voters. It is now known that Act 64 forces party committees, even without the newly-revived limits on party contributions and related expenditures, to concentrate more on mass media activities than grassroots activities. See 2001 Memorandum, supra; Campaigns Meant Cash for Vermont Media, Associated Press, Nov. 10, 2000 (`That was one of the unintended consequences of the campaign finance law, that we saw much more spending on the media,' [Secretary of State Markowitz] said.). 309 b) The Burden on Candidates' Speech 310 The district court concluded that Act 64's limits on campaign expenditures are based on past experience and, with limited exceptions, are substantially the same as average expenditures by candidates in the past. See Landell v. Sorrell, 118 F.Supp.2d 459, 471-72 (D.Vt.2000). Putting aside for purposes of argument that expenditure limits are per se unconstitutional under Buckley, the level of the limits set by Act 64 clearly places unconstitutional restraints on the speech of candidates for office. First, past experience is no guide. Second, average spending in past elections is a standard that strongly favors incumbents and imposes a one-size-fits-all philosophy that severely constricts debate in the most important elections. Third, Act 64's spending levels are so low that, combined with the draconian restrictions on party spending, they will drastically reduce political debate in Vermont. 1) Past Experience 311 A) Inaccuracy of Reports From Past Elections 312 It is impossible to determine the level of relevant campaign spending by Vermont candidates in the past, that is, expenditures using Act 64's definitions. It is not altogether clear what evidence the district court specifically considered in reaching its conclusions. However, on the face of the district court's decision, it appears that the court relied heavily on testimony, some of which was conflicting, see id. at 470-72, and did not scrutinize in detail documentary evidence of past practices. 313 More significantly, even the candidate disclosure reports filed under Vermont law for past elections will vastly understate the level of spending when Act 64's two-year election cycle and its new and much broader definitions of expenditures and related expenditures are used. There are some expenditure reports in the Trial Exhibits, but they are limited to particular candidates' out-of-pocket expenditures made during a campaign. See, e.g., Trial Exs. vol. IV at E-1311 (Campaign Finance Report of Peter Brownell). Act 64's limits on expenditures, however, apply, as noted, to all expenditures made over a two-year period immediately following the last general election and ending with the next general election. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2801(9), 2805a(a). 314 Furthermore, under prior law, there was no provision regarding related expenditures. There was, therefore, no reason even to collect information on, much less to calculate and report, related expenditures by supporters and political parties. In particular, there was no reason to calculate the value of in-kind related expenditures by supporters, such as mileage, all of which count toward the expenditure limits under Act 64. Finally, there was also no need under prior law for candidates to segregate and calculate expenditures on their behalf by party committees, likely a huge amount. See infra note 19 and accompanying text. The value of such support must be treated under Act 64 as a candidate expenditure. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2809(d). 315 We know only one thing for certain: what candidates deemed to be expenditures in the past—generally direct cash expenditures out of a campaign's checking account—will be vastly less than what must be so regarded under Act 64's definitions of expenditures and related expenditures. 316 There is another reason why prior spending is not a reliable guide for the needs of campaigns operating under Act 64. Act 64 imposes substantial costs of compliance with its terms that were not encountered under the prior law. As noted, Vermont's Secretary of State has indicated that most candidates will be unable to proceed safely without legal advice, see Appendix A, and candidates running for statewide office may need the services of an accountant as well. In the case of legislative candidates, legal assistance alone could literally exhaust all the expenditures — e.g. $2,000 for House candidates —allowable under Act 64. Again, such assistance from a candidate's political party will be limited because retention of counsel by a party organization to help candidates would be a related expenditure allocable to individual campaigns. 317 Much time and possibly much support staff will also be consumed by the need to monitor, coordinate, and control related expenditures by supporters that must be charged to the campaign. Finally, some candidates may encounter costs in bringing and defending lawsuits concerning the myriad of interpretive questions that will arise as a result of Act 64's ambiguous provisions. 318 B) Inadequacy of Average Spending in Past Elections as a Constitutional Standard 319 The district court deemed the average campaign expenditures in past elections to be a relevant legal guide, Landell v. Sorrell, 118 F.Supp.2d at 471-72, and my colleagues agree, see Maj. Op. at 130-31. 320 However, even if accurately determined using Act 64's definitions, the use of average expenditures in past elections inevitably yields expenditure levels that strongly favor incumbents. First, incumbent legislators in Vermont and elsewhere have ample advantages over challengers under spending limits, discussed infra, and therefore prefer low limits. Second, the average of past expenditures is calculated by including legislative elections that were not seriously contested or perhaps not contested at all—elections in which little communication took place and little was spent. 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). It is altogether possible, therefore, that the average expenditure in past elections is less than the amount spent by every candidate who ran in a seriously contested race and perhaps even probable that it is less than the amount spent by any challenger who successfully challenged an incumbent. 17 Average past spending therefore has little relevance unless the goal is to disadvantage challengers. 321 The use of average past expenditures is inappropriate for other reasons. The average will reflect only past patterns of citizen behavior in acquiring political information and prior methods of candidate communications with citizens. When citizens congregate in very large numbers for frequent community events, those events may well be effective vehicles for candidate communication with voters. When large community events become less frequent or less important in peoples' lives and voters turn to other sources to acquire political information—some may rely heavily on a certain newspaper, some on particular radio or television stations, some on websites—other means of communication, perhaps far more expensive, must be used by candidates for effective communication. 322 Part of the problem is simply the one-size-fits-all philosophy of expenditure limits. Different legislative districts may require different modes of communication. Geographic size, the existence and nature of local newspapers, radio and television stations, demographic factors, the issues, and so on, all affect the costs of communication with voters and may do so differently in many districts for the same legislative house. 323 Moreover, because the one-size-fits-all philosophy fails to recognize the differences between elections, it strikes at the heart of democracy. The view that there is an average election that can serve as the compulsory norm for all elections is quite dangerous, even apart from its pro-incumbent bias. Past averages have almost nothing to do with the communication needs in elections in which candidates strongly disagree over issues that divide large portions of the public and a clear-cut attempt is being made to alter government policies on those issues. 324 It is the non-average election that is often the historic election, one in which the outcome is heavily contested, the debate is most widespread, the public interest is at its highest, and the most money is spent. Such an election was the New Hampshire primary of 1968, in which Eugene McCarthy, later a plaintiff in Buckley, badly damaged a sitting President in a debate over the Vietnam war in one of the most heavily financed primary races in history. McCarthy spent a then-unprecedented $12 per vote received in that single primary. See George F. Will, Rules to Keep the Rascals In, Newsweek, Jan. 26, 1976, at 80. 325 Vermont had a similar election in 2000, in which civil unions and other divisive issues were at stake. See Ellen Goodman, Vermonters Are Caught up in a Civil War over Civil Unions, Boston Globe, Nov. 2, 2000, at A27; Tom Puleo, Governor's Race Tests Vermont Values; Gay Marriage Issue Is Monopolizing a Bitter Battle, Hartford Courant, Oct. 30, 2000, at Al. More money was spent in the 2000 election than in any prior Vermont election. See Lawmakers To Revisit Campaign Finance Law, Associated Press, Nov. 14, 2000 (noting that the 2000 gubernatorial campaigns set the record for money spent); see also Ross Sneyd, Campaign 2000 Involved Lots of Spending, Associated Press, Dec. 18, 2000 (describing record spending levels for many elections across Vermont in 2000). 326 McCarthy's New Hampshire campaign of 1968 had national significance, while the 2000 Vermont gubernatorial election had unquestioned state, and possibly national, ramifications. Both involved unprecedented citizen participation. See 2000 General Election Results for Gubernatorial Race, available at http://cgi.sec.state.vt.us/cgishl/nhayer.exe ( 2000 Election Results ) (showing that voter turnout increased in Vermont by 34.5% in the 2000 election compared to previous election); Hugh Gregg, A Tall State Revisited, at app. (1993), available at http://www.politicallibrary.org/TallState/1968dem.html. And both involved, not surprisingly, unprecedented campaign spending. 327 C) Evidence of Contested Elections in Vermont 328 Campaign finance reports of Vermont candidates provide ample evidence, of which we may take judicial notice, Fed. R.Evid. 201; Kramer v. Time Warner, Inc., 937 F.2d 767, 774 (2d Cir.1991) (court can take judicial notice of records filed with the SEC), that contested elections in Vermont involve spending well in excess of Act 64's limits, even without including related individual and party expenditures. In the last two gubernatorial elections in Vermont, the major party candidates reported expenditures in amounts that were double or almost triple Act 64's limits. See Campaign Finance Report of Howard Dean, Dec. 18, 2000; 18 Campaign Finance Report of Ruth Dwyer, Dec. 18, 2000; Campaign Finance Report of Doug Racine, Dec. 14, 2002; Campaign Finance Report of Jim Douglas, Dec. 16, 2002. Moreover, even a third party candidate for governor exceeded the limits in one election, Campaign Finance Report of Anthony Pollina, Dec. 18, 2000, and another third party candidate came within a whisker of the limits in the next gubernatorial election, Campaign Finance Report of Cornelius Hogan, Dec. 16, 2002. In the last race for Lieutenant Governor, both major party candidates and a third party candidate exceeded the limits by 63%, 40%, and 38% respectively. See Campaign Finance Report of Peter Shumlin, Dec. 14, 2002; Campaign Finance Report of Brian E. Dubie, Dec. 16, 2002; Campaign Finance Report of Anthony Pollina, Dec. 16, 2002. 329 The factual support for the conclusion reached by my colleagues—that contested elections will not be substantially affected by Act 64's limits—is found largely in opinion testimony offered by proponents of the Act. The already slim value of that testimony is further undermined by the fact that many of those witnesses, when they ran for office, actually exceeded Act 64's limits in contested elections, again not counting related expenditures by individuals and parties. See Campaion Finance Report of Anthony Pollina, Dec. 18, 2000 (spent $335,412.46 in Governor's race, with expenditure limit of $300,000); Campaign Finance Report of Cheryl Rivers, Dec. 18, 2000 (spent $19,290.39 in senate race, with expenditure limit of $9,000); Campaign Finance Report of Elizabeth Ready, Dec. 18, 2000 (spent $77,313.47 in auditor's race, with expenditure limit of $45,000, and outspent opponent by 20%, although she had testified at trial that she would abide by Act 64's limit in that race); Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 147-51 (Elizabeth Ready) (testifying that she exceeded the current expenditure limits in four of her six senate races). In the view of some of these witnesses, of course, contested elections are arms races that should be prohibited. See Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 147-151 (Elizabeth Ready). See infra Part V(d)(1). 330 2) Effect of Act 64's Expenditure Limits on Candidates 331 Act 64's expenditure limits will, therefore, greatly hamper Vermont candidates in getting their message to the public. The Secretary of State has noted that the expenditure limit for State Treasurer— $45,000—leaves, after advertising, no money to hire a campaign manager, do direct mail, lawn signs or bumper stickers. David Gram, Dems Needle Each Other On Spending in Treasurer's Race, Associated Press, May 29, 2002. Expenditure limits should be expected to have precisely such effects because they force candidates to give exclusive priority to the methods of communication that reach the greatest number of voters. 332 The Secretary of State has also noted that the tight contribution limits of Act 64 were part of the cause of an unprecedented amount of independent expenditures in the 2000 Vermont election. See 2001 Memorandum, supra. As a result, candidates complained that mailings or advertisements made on their behalf attributed to them opinions they did not hold, or sent negative messages about their opponent, in violation of their stated intent to run a positive campaign. Id. Expenditure limits will encourage even more extra-campaign spending and leave candidates without the means to set the record straight. 333 Even grassroots meet the candidate events in supporters' homes are severely limited, see 1999 Memorandum, supra, as noted above, and, although my colleagues mention, among other things, town barbecues and dinners as cheap but effective campaign methods, see Maj. Op. at 130, the nature—when and where held and how often in the campaign season—usefulness —what kind of voters and in what numbers attend—cost—who pays—and legal status under Act 64—an expenditure or related expenditure—of these events is not elaborated in the record or discussed in my colleagues' opinion, notwithstanding the critical role such factors logically play in their opinion's analysis. In fact, these methods may be neither cheap—at least by Act 64's meager standards—nor effective. 334 There is, therefore, simply no data in the record suggesting that anything other than a drastic reduction of political speech will result from Act 64's expenditure limits. Indeed, the effect will likely be much harsher than most would expect for the reasons that follow. 335 First, low limits exacerbate the highly discriminatory and arbitrary effect of Act 64's selection of a two-year cycle. In a single-member Vermont House district, a candidate may spend—counting related individual and party expenditures—only $2,000 over the two-year cycle. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2805a(a)(5). A candidate who seeks to comply fully with Act 64 will be severely constricted. Any legal fees will count toward that limit. Id. § 2801(3). Mileage and other expenses of supporters can quickly eat up the spending allowed. A candidate who has to run in a contested primary election may well be unable to communicate with the public at all—literally stuck in his or her driveway—in a general election against an opponent whose campaign is just beginning. 336 Second, the harshness of the limits on candidate expenditures is greatly exacerbated by the fact that a candidate's campaign cannot expect the candidate's party to provide the usual supplemental support of polls, offices, computers, phones, advertisements, mailings, and other events, such as a party-funded booth at a country fair, if the conduct primarily benefits fewer than seven candidates. See supra notes 12, 14. Parties may make contributions and related expenditures benefiting candidates that total, over a two-year period, no more than $400 for each candidate for statewide office, $300 for each candidate for the Senate, and $200 for each candidate for the House. See supra Part III(b)-(c). In Vermont, there are six statewide offices, thirty State Senators, and 150 State Representatives. Under Act 64, a political party—the state party and all affiliates combined—can, over a two-year period, make a total of only $41,400 in contributions to, or related expenditures on behalf of, all its candidates for non-federal office. 337 Although Colorado II allows such restrictions, 533 U.S. at 465, 121 S.Ct. 2351, their effect must be considered in gauging the impact of candidate expenditure limits. A statewide poll regarding candidates for the six statewide offices would cost over $6,000. Letter from Mark F. Michaud, Vermont Democratic Party, to Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell 1 (Feb. 28, 2002). If the poll data were shared with the six candidates, the poll would exceed Act 64's limits ($400 by 6) by over 100%. See Appendix A. The full effect of Act 64's limits has, of course, not been experienced yet, 19 because the district court invalidated candidate expenditure limits and the contribution/related expenditure limits on political parties. With these limits now revived, limits on expenditures by candidates will dramatically lessen political debate in Vermont. 338 Finally, as noted, Act 64's one-size-fits-all approach makes no provision for candidates to adjust to economic, demographic, cultural, or technological changes that increase the costs of campaigns. Although Act 64 is premised on the view that elections are too expensive—a view expressly rejected as a valid reason for expenditure limits in Buckley, 424 U.S. at 57, 96 S.Ct. 612—and that candidates can make them cheaper, the costs of campaigning are not within the control of candidates. 339 The costs of resources to be used in campaigns are determined by competitive markets. Resources used in campaigns are also used, and far more extensively, for non-political communication. The prices of those resources are therefore set in markets that are independent of political campaigns and in which candidates for office must compete with non-political consumers. An inability to pay market price for communication resources will stifle political speech. Nevertheless, there is no provision for future inflation in Act 64's limits, although even slight annual increases in the consumer price index will in a few short years substantially reduce further the ability of candidates to communicate with voters. For example, the cost of postage stamps is now higher than when Act 64 was passed. See It Now Costs 3 Cents More to Mail a First-Class Letter, N.Y. Times, June 30, 2002, at 18. For another example, the price of gasoline has risen considerably since then. (The reimbursement rate for mileage driven by federal employees has been increased from 31¢ at the time of Act 64's passage to 37½¢ in July, 2004. See U.S. General Services Administration, Privately Owned Vehicle Reimbursement Rates, at http:// www.gsa.gov (effective Jan. 1, 2004)). 340 As noted above, the effect of rising costs has already been observed by Vermont's Secretary of State. With regard to a campaign for State Treasurer—with an expenditure limit of $45,000—she noted that, The cost of paid media has changed quite a bit in the last four or five years. With prices for television ads, and even radio ads, running a campaign on $45,000 will leave you no money to hire a campaign manager, do direct mail, lawn signs or bumper stickers. David Gram, Dems Needle Each Other on Spending in Treasurer's Race, Associated Press, May 29, 2002. It goes without saying that there also would be no room under the spending cap for grassroots activities that would have to be included as related expenditures. 341 Act 64 also does not take into account the fact that a combination of demographic, cultural and technological changes may require resort to ever more costly methods of communication. Campaigns may communicate with voters only by going to where voters are or using a medium watched or listened to by voters. My colleagues assume the existence of numerous public events in which large groups of voters frequently congregate and can be personally addressed. See Maj. Op. at 130. However, voters are not required to abide by such assumptions and to congregate in great numbers at scheduled times during political campaigns or even to welcome an interruption of free time at home by a candidate's personal visit. Rather, they may prefer to get their information through technology that puts candidates at the mercy of a competitive market and technological advances. 342 For example, because the development of cable television broadened viewership opportunities for the public, it also required candidates who wished to communicate through television to buy ads on many, instead of a few, channels. For another example, the development of the Internet has made it possible for candidates to offer websites to provide information to potential voters, a fantasy fifteen years ago. The Executive Director of the Vermont Democratic Party has opined that a candidate website is now a necessity. Nancy Remsen, Election Notebook 2002, Burlington Free Press, Sept. 9, 2002, at 1B. 343 Act 64 takes a Luddite view of political communication—one witness for the defense even suggested the bicycle as a means of travel in campaigns, Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 134 (Elizabeth Ready)—and prevents candidates from adjusting to new demographic and cultural patterns and costs, even though the Supreme Court has expressly declared that government is not to make that choice. See Meyer, 486 U.S. at 424, 108 S.Ct. 1886; Buckley, 424 U.S. at 57, 96 S.Ct. 612. 344 c) The Burden on Challengers 345 The fact that limits on candidate expenditures tend to disadvantage challengers in campaigns against incumbents is recognized both in the provisions of Act 64— which has slightly lower limits for incumbents —and in its legislative history. See, e.g., Hearing on H. 28 Before the Vt. House Comm. on Local Gov't, 64th Biennial Sess. (1997) (statement of Rep. Terry Bouricius); Hearing on H. 28 Before the Senate Comm. on Gov't Operations, 64th Biennial Sess. (1997) (statements of Sens. Seth Bongartz and Jean Ankeney). The Supreme Court has also noted that limits on candidate expenditures may handicap a candidate who lacked substantial name recognition or exposure of his views before the start of the campaign. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 57, 96 S.Ct. 612. 346 Incumbents in effect have capital—name recognition, an existing organization, tested donor lists, etc.—to draw upon without making expenditures as defined in Act 64, while virtually every significant capital-building activity by newcomers requires the use of resources that count toward the expenditure limits. Equally important is the fact that incumbents have methods of getting their name before the public that are not limited by Act 64, while challengers do not. 347 To take an example from Vermont, the State Treasurer, an elected official, publishes newspaper ads at state expense listing names of Vermonters who may have funds in dormant bank accounts, unclaimed insurance refunds, or unclaimed stock dividends. These ads have contained photos of the incumbent Treasurer and have run in the October of election years. In 2001, the ad read, Jim Thompson, Vermont state treasurer, may have money for you. Treasurer Candidates Show Signs of Restraint, Burlington Free Press, Sept. 23, 2002, at 1B. To take another Vermont example, whereas a challenger to an incumbent Secretary of State can obtain a Madison Avenue-type website only by spending money counted as an expenditure, the incumbent can use state funds for such a site, and post on it materials casting a favorable light on the incumbent, omitting only the words Vote for me. See Vermont Secretary of State's Website, at http://www.sec.state.vt.us; Office of the Attorney General Website, at http://www.atg.vt.us; see also supra Part III(c). Moreover, the Secretary's political party provides visitors to its site a link to the Secretary's site. See supra Part III(c). 348 The term arms race has acquired an almost talismanic quality in the course of this litigation, serving as a quip that answers every concern about Act 64's effect on political speech. In fact, however, slogans about stopping the arms race are often cover for the disarming of challengers. See infra Part V(d). 349 For example, one of the witnesses whose testimony is relied upon heavily by my colleagues, Maj. Op. at 116-17, 118, 122, 127, 130-31 is a very successful electoral official in Vermont who testified to the arms race at the State Senate level, Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 147, 150 (Elizabeth Ready). As an incumbent and undoubtedly well-meaning supporter of Act 64's limits, which she had exceeded (not including related individual and party expenditures) in most of her (always successful) campaigns, see id. at 147, supra Part IV(b)(1)(C), she testified that she had been forced to make larger expenditures because her opponents ran advertisements and posted yard signs that gained the attention of voters. She was then compelled to do the same, instead of relying on her preferred campaign method of person-to-person contact, because voters seeing her opponents' ads and yard signs wondered whether she was running for reelection. See id. at 147-48. In her view, the arms race forcing her to run ads and post yard signs should be stopped. 350 So used, arms race is a pejorative term that refers to contested elections in which challengers spend resources to run serious campaigns. Incumbents do not restrain their own acquisition and use of perquisites of office that help them win reelection, but these perquisites are never mentioned as part of the arms race. For example, the witness described above, who offered yard signs as evidence of an arms race, now holds the elected post of State Auditor with a website that has her photo and various pages listing her goals and accomplishments. Office of the Vermont State Auditor Website, at http://www.state.vt.us/sao. To boot, the Vermont Democratic Party website offers visitors a link to the Auditor Website. See supra Part III(c). Expenditure limits therefore stop arms races by challengers, leaving incumbents with ample weapons. 351 Moreover, Act 64's selection of the two-year cycle as the governing time period collapses primary and general elections under one expenditure limit and will in the main favor incumbents, who face serious primary challengers less frequently than those seeking a party nomination to challenge an incumbent. Indeed, there appears to be little other reason justifying the choice of the two-year cycle. 352 The degree of the adverse effect of Act 64 on challengers will depend in large part on discretionary, arbitrary, and often ad hoc rulings on what kinds of activities and speech by incumbents will be deemed to be official communication by officeholders to the public and what kinds will be deemed to be campaign expenditures. Of course, virtually every activity by an incumbent officeholder intending to seek reelection will have a political effect, and such officeholders will to one degree or another take that effect into account in determining their behavior. The law provides for marginally lower limits on expenditures by incumbents, but this largely inconsequential difference will be rendered irrelevant so long as the substantial communications by incumbents are not deemed campaign expenditures. Conversely, the advantage of incumbents under the Act's limits will also depend on what activities by non-announced challengers are deemed to be by a candidate and for the purpose of influencing an election. See generally Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, § 2801(1), (3). 353 These issues, of course, will likely be addressed in the first instance by an incumbent official, the Secretary of State. See 2001 Guide, supra; see also infra Part V(e). Should these rulings be adverse to incumbents—a not very likely scenario— the incumbents can overturn them by legislation. If the rulings favor incumbents, challengers have no such option. 354 Because the hands-off approach of my colleagues accords expansive deference to legislative judgments as to expenditure limits, see Maj. Op. at 114 & n.9, incumbents are given a weapon that can be manipulated as needed in the future. Should the limits of Act 64 prove inadequate and the arms race continue to result in ads and yard signs by challengers, they can be altered at will. 20 355 Act 64's major factual premise is that Vermont incumbents so crave reelection that they ignore official duties and personal honor to that end. My colleagues abandon this premise in reassuring us that self-interest will not influence campaign finance regulation despite the considerable evidence that self-interest contributed, albeit below the public radar, to the level of expenditure limits set by Act 64 and to adoption of the two-year cycle. 356 Moreover, there is powerful evidence that self-interest will prevail. Incumbent legislators can exercise a direct influence on the outcome of elections in two ways: campaign finance regulation and reapportionment. The importance of self-interest is dramatically confirmed by the effect of legislative reapportionment on election districts for the United States House of Representatives, an area in which courts have deferred to legislative judgment. See White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783, 794-95, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973) (From the beginning, we have recognized that reapportionment is primarily a matter for legislative consideration and determination.) (internal citation omitted); see also Miller v. Johnson, 515 U.S. 900, 915-16, 115 S.Ct. 2475, 132 L.Ed.2d 762 (1995). Reapportionment of federal House districts now has one and only one guiding star: incumbent protection. See John Harwood, No Contests: House Incumbents Tap Census, Software to Get a Lock on Seats, Wall St. J., June 19, 2002, at A1 (Thanks to the play-it-safe strategies of Republicans and Democrats alike, and to the sophisticated technology now used in redistricting, competition is being squeezed out of the House—with huge consequences.); id. (describing the practice of sweetheart gerrymandering by incumbents of both parties); Richard Perez-Pena, With 2 Congressional Seats Lost, Albany Begins Battling Over Who Must Go, N.Y. Times, Jan. 22, 2002, at B1. These sources demonstrate that reapportionment is now widely regarded as little but the rigging of elections in the name of the special interest—incumbency—that dominates legislative decisions. I know of no reason why the guiding star in reapportionment decisions will not become the guiding star in campaign finance regulation. 357 d) The Burden on the Press 358 As noted, the law does not exempt the media from the definitions of contribution, expenditure, or related expenditure. Media support is a thing of value that, if facilitated or solicited by a candidate, would be a related expenditure. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2801(3), 2809(c); see also 2001 Guide, supra. Indeed, as noted above, Vermont's Secretary of State has warned candidates that providing a photo, written materials, or other assistance or information to anyone for use in a publication will trigger a related expenditure. See id. 359 The extent of the burden imposed on the press by Act 64 is potentially vast, again depending largely on discretionary rulings by those who must administer Act 64. See infra Part V(e). Certainly, editorials or op-ed endorsement(s) of candidates fall directly within Act 64's language, as would publication of letters to the editor from a candidate, a campaign official, or even a supporter. One witness relied upon in my colleagues' opinion testified that she authored articles on issues for the press as a no-cost campaign tactic, Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 135 (Elizabeth Ready), but publication of these articles would clearly fall within the related expenditure language of Act 64. Media sponsorship of debates might also, particularly if some candidates were excluded or if some did not want to appear. Ordinary news stories about campaign events brought to a newspaper's attention by a candidate or campaign official, or even news reports on interviews with candidates, also fall squarely within the ruling by the Secretary of State described above. See 2001 Guide, supra. 360 None of this is inconsistent with Act 64's underlying philosophy. The theory underlying Act 64 would easily include the media as a powerful special interest having a stake in government action just like any other profit-making business or organized economic interest— e.g., the newspaper quoted by my colleagues is part of a huge multi-national organization, undoubtedly one of the larger companies doing business in Vermont. See Gannett Co. Inc. Operations, available at http://www.gannett.com/map/units.pdf (listing The Burlington Free Press as a subsidiary). A candidate enjoying the editorial support of the local press, favorable coverage of his or her campaign events, and publication of his or her op-ed articles receives benefits bestowed at considerable expense, including past capital investment and current spending. Unless expenditure limits include the value of media support, an opponent who does not enjoy such support and labors under an expenditure limit exempting media support is in a real sense facing a candidate who is allowed to spend more because of a powerful economic supporter. Of course, unconstitutional restraints on the press are not validated by a need for fairness created by unconstitutional restraints on political candidates. See infra note 21. 361 However, many proposals to regulate campaign finance exempt the media, see, e.g., N.Y. Elec. Law § 14-124; Conn. Gen. Stat. § 9-333w(c), often including a definition of what organs of communication constitute exempted media, see e.g., Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, § 201(f)(3)(B), Pub. L. No. 107-155, 116 Stat. 81 (codified at 2 U.S.C. § 431 et seq. ). 21 Nevertheless, Act 64 does not contain such an exception. Given the plain language of Act 64 and the consistency of its theory with that language, Act 64 can fairly be said to burden the press, and any candidate who seeks its support, quite as much as the Act burdens other candidates and their supporters. 362 e) The Burden on Party Affiliates 363 As noted, Act 64 treats a contribution to a state, county or local party affiliate as a contribution to all affiliates, and requires that all such monies be deposited in a single bank account. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2801(5), 2831; see also supra note 1. 364 My colleagues note that the local and state affiliates will now have to record and coordinate their contributions, but reassure us that the provision does not impose any organizational burden on the party outside of the campaign finance realm, and requires no broader organizational reform. Maj. Op. at 144. Of course, under Act 64, the campaign finance realm is not some incidental, out-of-the-way matter but covers virtually every organizational activity, including even the cost of char-coal, hotdogs, hamburgers, and soft drinks for a town committee picnic. Moreover, the record[ing] and coordina[tion] is required to be done through a single bank account. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 17, §§ 2801(5), 2831; supra, note 1. If a party town committee wants $50 for a picnic, it must petition the state party official authorized to sign checks from the statewide account to obtain the only money that can legally pay for those items. Local party-funded booths at country fairs were mentioned as a person-to-person method of campaigning by one witness relied upon by my colleagues, see Trial Tr. vol. IX, at 138 (Elizabeth Ready), but such funding must also come from the statewide account. 365 By requiring that the recording and coordination of all party financing be done through a statewide party organization that parcels out funds, Act 64 not only disrupts but revolutionizes the organization of American political parties and their critical role in a free society. The centralizing of party funding will of course make all grassroots political activities by local party affiliates—the indispensable stuff of American politics—subject to the whim of state party officials. In fact, when the Vermont Secretary of State ruled that a contribution to one party organization constituted a contribution to all affiliates, both Republican and Democratic state leaders registered shock—another example of the lack of scrutiny given the actual provisions of Act 64—and opined that grassroots activities would be severely inhibited. See Secretary of State Being Criticized for Fund Raising Ruling, Associated Press, May 28, 1999 (noting one political operative's stunned response as being Someone's totally taken leave of their senses).