A US District Court ruled that ads run by the Wisconsin Right to Life group were strictly “issue advocacy” and not for or against a specific candidate and thus not regulatable by the FEC. The ads were ran during Senator Feingold’s reelection campaign in 2004 by the anti-abortion group and urged voters to express their “dissatisfaction with [...]

While in Argentina, parties are passing laws to raise the amount of money they can spend in elections, in Mexico, parties are looking for ways to reduce the amount that is spent. Parties in Mexico receive a large state subsidy both annually and during electoral periods (i.e. twice during election years). On Thursday, all 8 [...]

The US Federal Election Commission fined three “527 groups” – groups that make political expenditures independent of candidates’ campaigns but are not subject to contribution limits because they are regulated by the Internal Revenue Service and not the FEC - saying that their activity during the 2004 presidential and congressional elections implied that they should have been political committees [...]

Yesterday saw developments on several stories previously posted here. (Click on each country in the sidebar for these previous posts.)
Argentina: The lower house (Cámara de Diputados) approved and sent to the Senate the pending reform that raises the spending limit for federal elections from 1 to 1.5 pesos per registered voter. The [...]

The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a law that would have prevented parties from receiving state subsidies and significant TV time for elections (and from serving on certain directing boards or investigatory committees in the legislature) unless they surpass a threshold in federal legislative elections. The threshold – of at least 2% of the national [...]

The Associated Press reports that the New Jersey Assembly will consider overhauling public financing of campaigns, which had (very) limited success in 2005. The previous legislation:
… offered candidates $130,000 from the state treasury if they raised $20,000 from 1,500 donors in their district through small contributions, such as $5, but only two candidates raised enough [...]

I have been unable to confirm from other sources that the Angolan state subsidizes political parties, but it seems like it does. The Angola Press reports that yesterday meetings were held with parties and the Finance Ministry to discuss the presentation of financial accounts for the purpose of receiving state subsidies. Another report here in [...]

The overhaul of Peru’s Political Parties Law (Ley de Partidos Politicos) in 2003 introduced the disclosure of campaign finance for political parties (as well as state financing of political parties), but not for independent movements that also compete in elections. The technical secretary of the Peruvian organization Transparencia, Percy Medina, this week proposed modifications to the [...]

The Panamanian legislature is considering electoral reforms that include limits on campaign periods and the disclosure of financial contributions. Currently, political parties who receive state subsidies must disclose their electoral expenditures, but they do not have disclose the amount and identity of any private contributions they receive (the Electoral Code requires parties and candidates to register [...]

The FEC (Federal Election Commission of the US) has proposed to drop fines by 50% or more to candidates who blow the whistle on themselves! Self-reporting of violations has increased in recent years, the FEC says (at The Washington Post). The new rules are designed to encourage more of the same.
This seems like a good [...]

Eliot Spitzer, the newly-elected governor of the state of New York and nationally-recognized Democrat for his recent tenure as Attorney General of New York (for aggressive pursuit of corporate misdeeds), has stated that all future campaign contributions he accepts will be subject to his own voluntarily limits. Of course, since his actions are voluntary they [...]