Campaign finance system is broken says GOP super-lawyer Jim Bopp
For decades, conservative attorney Jim Bopp has fought on the front lines of a regulatory war over how political campaigns are financed.
As a staunch proponent of deregulation, Bopp has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions, including during the 2008 Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission ruling that overturned the ban on corporate-funded issue ads ahead of an election — what federal regulators call “electioneering communications.”
The Terre Haute, Indiana-based lawyer was also involved with the landmark Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which overturned the ban on corporate-funded advertising that explicitly calls for the election or defeat of political candidates. This year, he’s advising Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal as Jindal weighs a 2016 White House bid.
Bopp recently talked with the Center for Public Integrity about political corruption, the 2016 presidential election and the proliferation of super PACs and nonprofits in politics. Among his assertions: the current campaign finance system is broken and liberal campaign finance reform advocates tend to act like Communists.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Center for Public Integrity: In an ideal world, what is needed to combat political corruption and prevent people from gaming the system?
Bopp: You have to have as few rules as possible, and those rules need to be vigorously enforced. If they are not enforced, they are pointless.
Center for Public Integrity: Do you think the number of people trying to game the system has increased in recent years?
Related: Bopp pull quote
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
