ISPS Special Event: SHOW ME THE MONEY: How Transparency in Political Donations Could Change American Elections
“SHOW ME THE MONEY: How Transparency in Political Donations Could Change American Elections”
Under current judicial interpretation, the government has very little wiggle room to curb the spending of money for electioneering. Spending money to influence elections is interpreted as integral to first amendment rights. However, the Supreme Court has signaled that governments are able to compel disclosure of political contributions. Disclosure – publicizing who donors are, who they are giving to, and how much - is seen as the primary way that governments can mitigate concerns about the role of money in politics. There are a number of disclosure policy proposals out there, and the goal of this panel is to sort through the various ideas for reform. The lawyers on the panel (Gerken and Potter) will talk about the legal foundations and policy proposals. The political scientists (LaRaja and Primo) will talk about the empirical evidence of the effects of disclosure laws.
Panelists: (Link to Panelist Biographies)
- Trevor Potter, Founding President & General Counsel, The Campaign Legal Center; Member in Caplin & Drysdale’s DC office leading the firm’s Political Law Group; “Personal Lawyer” to comedian Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report (See “Colbert, Potter & Super PACS”)
- Heather Gerken, J. Skelly Professor of Law, Yale Law School
- Ray La Raja, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- David Primo, Ani & Mark Gabrellian Professor/Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester
Moderator: Eitan Hersh, Political Science, Yale University
All are invited to a reception immediately following the event in the 2nd Floor Common Room at Luce Hall.
This event is sponsored by the Yale Institution for Social & Policy Studies with support from the Scholars Strategy Network.