Skip to main content
Donate

Think Lobbyists Cannot Give Campaign Donations to California Politicians? Think Again.

By Jessica Levinson
December 19, 2011
Support Provided By
money

Under California law, registered lobbyists are prohibited from giving campaign contributions to state candidates. The purpose of this prohibition is rather straightforward. Contributions from those overtly seeking to influence elected officials could lead to corruption, or at least the appearance of corruption. Simply put, such contributions are or seem particularly unseemly.

However, under federal law, lobbyists are free to give to federal candidates. Federal law controls federal races, while state law dictates the permissible behavior for state races. Therefore, when state elected officials run for federal office, the same lobbyists prohibited from giving to state campaigns are free to give to federal ones. It strains common sense to think that state elected officials would be thankful for contributions to their state campaigns, but not as grateful to lobbyists for contributions in their federal campaigns.

We can again thank the ballot initiative that created term limits for the fact that so many state officials eventually run for federal office. Term limits has, among other things, helped to create an atmosphere of endless campaigning.

Can we at least take solace in the fact that California has a law that prohibits lobbyists from giving to state candidates? Maybe not for long. More than thirty years ago, in the Supreme Court's seminal decision in the area of campaign finance law, the Court essentially ruled that money given and spent in elections is speech. It follows that laws barring lobbyists from giving campaign contributions to state candidates infringes on the speech rights of lobbyists. Some courts have nonetheless upheld such bans, finding that they serve the compelling governmental interests of preventing corruption or at least situations that look like corruption.

The one piece of good news in this latest chapter of the endless saga about the influence of money over politics is that the money given by lobbyists to federal candidates (who are sometimes incumbent state officials) is disclosed in the Federal Election Commission's database. At the least, we know who is giving and receiving.

Jessica Levinson writes about the intersection of law and government every Monday. She is a Visiting Professor at Loyola Law School. Find more of her posts here.

Image via Flickr user DonkeyHotey

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News