Whats Bad about Soft Money?
McCain and his fellow reformers have some good arguments against the current soft-money regime. It’s not wise to allow corporations and unions to give unlimited amounts to parties. Large corporations give huge amounts to parties to secure or defend favorable governmental treatment. The publicly owned digital television spectrum was recently distributed for free to television broadcasters, who have given $5 million in soft money in recent years. Agribusiness companies have given over $4.5 million in soft-money in recent years, helping to maintain federal ethanol subsidies worth $500 million annually. Even if these actions aren’t out-and-out bribes, they certainly present an “appearance of corruption” to many citizens. In addition to bad appearances, the explosion of soft money advertising has increased the “clutter” of messages besieging voters during election campaigns. Political scientist David Magelby, in a recent book on the impact of soft-money and issue-advocacy advertising in the
