Matching Items (2)
Filtering by
- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: School of Politics and Global Studies
- Creators: Economics Program in CLAS
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Campaign finance regulation has drastically changed since the founding of the Republic. Originally, few laws regulated how much could be contributed to political campaigns and who could make contributions. One by one, Congress passed laws to limit the possibility of corruption, for example by banning the solicitation of federal workers and banning contributions from corporations. As the United States moved into the 20th Century, regulations became more robust with more accountability. The modern structure of campaign finance regulation was established in the 1970's with legislation like the Federal Election Campaign Act and with Supreme Court rulings like in Buckley v. Valeo. Since then, the Court has moved increasingly to strike down campaign finance laws they see as limiting to First Amendment free speech. However, Arizona is one of a handful of states that established a system of publicly financed campaigns at the state-wide and legislative level. Passed in 1998, Proposition 200 attempted to limit the influence of money politics. For my research I hypothesized that a public financing system like the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) would lead to Democrats running with public funds more than Republicans, women running clean more than men, and rural candidates running clean more than urban ones, and that Democrats, women, and rural candidates would win in higher proportions than than if they ran a traditional campaign. After compiling data from the CCEC and the National Institute on Money in State Politics, I found that Democrats do run with public funds in statistically higher proportions than Republicans, but when they do they lose in higher proportions than Democrats who run traditionally. Female candidates only ran at a statistically higher proportion from 2002 to 2008, after which the difference was not statistically significant. For all year ranges women who ran with public money lost in higher proportions than women who ran traditionally. Similarly, rural candidates only ran at a statistically higher proportion from 2002 to 2008. However, they only lost at higher proportions from 2002 to 2008 instead of the whole range like with women and Democratic candidates.
ContributorsMarshall, Austin Tyler (Author) / Herrera, Richard (Thesis director) / Jones, Ruth (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission was put into effect in 2000 as a new method of campaign finance reform that sought to provide new voices with proper funds to compete with privately financed (traditional) candidates. In theory, the Clean Elections Commission could provide a more equal and more democratic method of handling elections in terms of campaign finance. Though much of its power was stripped away by the Supreme Court in the case, Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, the Commission still exists and provides qualifying candidates with a chance to run that they would not have otherwise and voters with more power to hold politicians accountable. Other work on the topic concerns its effectiveness as campaign finance reform and its ability to properly represent the constituents, though it lacks perspective from those in the political sphere who use or work on publicly funded campaigns. As such, along with my own background research, I interviewed three people who do have more direct experience with the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to determine their outlook on the system in its current and previous states. In doing so, I found that Arizona Clean Elections are not what they used to be and are likely not viable on a wider scale, though they still provide an accessible way to run for office and a method of voters holding their elected officials accountable.
ContributorsKnapp, William (Author) / Lennon, Tara (Thesis director) / Simhony, Avital (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2023-05