Outside Campaign Spending Increases Fivefold
From Ring of Fire:
Ever since the Supreme Court ruled the Citizens United case in 2010, saying that political spending is free speech protected by the First Amendment, outside campaign spending has increased fivefold.
In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United in a 5-4 vote. Corporations and other wealthy private contributors flocked to the aid of their candidates. Outside groups can’t give directly to campaigns, but they can still purchase ads that endorse their choice candidate.
In 1990, political contributions were modest by today’s standards. Dollar amounts remained from around the high thousands to low millions, with small spikes in presidential election years. Contribution amounts greatly increased in the 2004 election and then again in 2008. When the ruling was made in 2010, total political spending by independent contributors hardly scraped $200 million. In the 2012 election year, independent contributors spent about $1 billion on political causes.
You can read the full article here at Ring of Fire.
