What Politicians Really Want From Election Laws
This nifty quote from Senator Jay Rockefeller got me to thinking:
"There's a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: "˜Out. Off. End. Goodbye.' It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future."
This last election demonstrated exactly what politicians don't like about election law when they complain about things like Citizens United. No, its not the influx of campaign donations-- politicians are perfectly thrilled to be on the receiving end of more money. The failure in the eyes of politicians was the large turnover in Congress and the losses suffered by many incumbents. For most in Congress, election law is about maintaining their incumbency. Any law that makes it harder for them to be criticized in the press or by challengers is good. Anything that increases public criticism of them is bad.
