Free Republic

WASHINGTON – Republicans are making another run at overturning a ban on unlimited "soft money" contributions. Their Democratic rivals say it is an attempt to bring big money back to politics because the GOP can't keep up with President Barack Obama's fundraising machine. The Republican National Committee is suing to overturn part of a ban on unlimited contributions passed by Congress in 2002 and upheld by the Supreme Court a year later.

SACRAMENTO — Liberal activists are worried that Democratic legislators are considering a deal to institute permanent curbs on government spending in order to win Republican support for tax increases as the Legislature seeks solutions to a $42 billion deficit facing the state over the next 18 months. They are imploring Democrats to rethink any deal that they say will effectively cripple government, leaving future generations unable to respond to the more complex needs of a growing state with Draconian cuts required at every level of government. "I'm very concerned from the conversations I've had that Democrats may agree to something...

Candidates for federal office will be able to squeeze just a little more money out of their major contributors in the 2010 campaign cycle as the Federal Election Commission announced new individual gift limits Friday morning. Individual donors will now be able to give up to $2,400 per election, or $4,800 for both a primary and a general, according to the new guidelines. That's up from the $2,300 per-election limit during the 2008 cycle. Donors are also able to fork over $30,400 to national parties, higher than the $28,500 they were allowed to give last cycle. A single donor is...

To be followed by Civil War II.... H. J. Res. 5: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second. Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

JEFFERSON CITY | The Missouri Supreme Court reinstated campaign contribution limits Thursday, but it’s unclear whether politicians will be forced to return millions of dollars collected since the limits were lifted in January.The court, in a unanimous decision, overturned a lower judge who had thrown out a fundraising ban for elected officials and challengers during the legislative session but kept intact the overall repeal of Missouri’s individual contribution limits.The Supreme Court said the legislative history of the bill indicated lawmakers would not have repealed contribution limits if the donation blackout period was not in effect.The court noted that when the...

Many FReepers still consider term limits a remedy to problems that plague our nation. I am located in California where term limits is now the law for all non-federal elective offices. The effort was primarily aimed at removing one person from state politics, Willie Brown, then Speaker of the Assembly. My personal assessment is that term limits has ushered in an era of progressive-liberalism from both the Democratic and Republican parties never imagined. It has also tossed many very capable conservatives from office. I wonder how others assess term limits now. Using California as the example, how many FReepers would...

Oregon moved closer to a total cap on interest rates Thursday, when the state House passed a 36 percent limit on consumer loans under $50,000. The cap completes House approval of a package of bills aimed at banning the triple-digit interest rates charged by payday and car title lenders. "This doesn't end consumer lending," said House Speaker Jeff Merkley, D-Portland. "But it will end predatory interest rates." The House voted 36-21 in support of House Bill 2871, which will join four other bills pending in the Senate. Oregon's payday lenders, who operate about 360 stores, say the legislation will kill...

WASHINGTON - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told Congress on Wednesday that overhauls of the nation's schools and immigration laws are urgently needed to keep jobs from going overseas. "The U.S. cannot maintain its economic leadership unless our work force consists of people who have the knowledge and skills needed to drive innovation," Gates told the Senate committee that oversees labor and education issues. Gates, whose charitable foundation has given away more than $3 billion since 1999 for educational programs and scholarships, noted that about 30 percent of U.S. ninth-graders fail to graduate on time. "As a nation, we should start...

WASHINGTON - Chief executives of 10 major corporations urged Congress on Monday to require limits on greenhouse gases this year, contending voluntary efforts to combat climate change are inadequate. The call for immediate action came on the eve of President Bush's State of the Union address in which he is expected to reiterate that the industry on its own is making progress in curtailing the growth of heat-trapping emissions without the need of government intervention. But the executives and leaders of four major environmental organizations said in a letter to Bush that mandatory emissions caps are needed to reduce the...

WASHINGTON - Federal election regulators refused to ease limits on political advertising Tuesday, blocking an effort to let interest groups run radio and television ads mentioning elected officials within weeks of an election. The Federal Election Commission voted 3-3 on a proposal that would have allowed such ads as long as they addressed public policy issues and did not promote, support, oppose or attack a sitting member of Congress. Supporters of the change said they wanted to strike a balance between campaign ad restrictions and constitutional free speech guarantees. The measure failed on a tie vote with the commission's three...

With new restrictions on political giving, this was supposed to be a challenging year for candidates to round up cash in the race for governor. But with the contest barely under way, some experts already predict that the 2006 campaign will set a record for statewide political spending. Even with first-time caps on donations, the combined $130 million spent by then-Gov. Gray Davis and other candidates for governor in 2002 is almost certain to be eclipsed. Davis' campaign spent a state record $78 million that year, and some say that figure might be toppled, too. "All the factors, all the...

Edison International, PG&E Corp. and other suppliers of electricity in California will be required by state regulators to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Power companies in the most populous state will face a cap intended to bring emissions down, possibly to 1990 levels, according to a measure approved Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said last year that he wanted the state to cut greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The state would be the first to regulate emissions by electricity providers. "It's a very positive first step in the right direction," said Dan Kalb, the California...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate's top leader said Democrats in his house won't accept a key provision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's massive public works plan - a limit on bond borrowing - because it could freeze out projects not sought by the governor. Schwarzenegger wants the Legislature to approve a constitutional amendment that would limit annual payments on bond debt to 6 percent of revenue coming into the state's largest budget account, the general fund. But Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, called the proposed debt limit "unworkable and unnecessary." "Circumstances change and governors and legislators need more...

Supreme Court to Hear First Amendment Case By FREDERIC J. FROMMER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in an anti-abortion group's First Amendment challenge to advertising limits in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Wisconsin Right to Life was barred in 2004 from broadcasting ads that mentioned Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat facing re-election who co-authored the law with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. A provision of the law banned the use of corporate or union money for ads identifying federal candidates two months before a general election. In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Assembly passed legislation Thursday that would curb Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's fundraising by putting a $5,600 limit on donations to ballot measure committees controlled by candidates or officeholders. The bill was designed to close a loophole in a voter-approved campaign finance law that Schwarzenegger has used to raise tens of millions of dollars to support his agenda at the ballot box. "This loophole is bad public policy. It undermines public trust," said Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, sponsor of the bill. Wolk's bill deals with contributions made to committees such as Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team, which don't face...

A government of the people, by the people, for the people ... of power The judicial branch of our government has come in for increasing criticism in recent years and it seemed to peak in the Terri Schiavo incident. Unfortunately, the concern of the people over the actions of the judicial have somewhat masked the concern of the people over the actions of the legislative branch, the Congress. Abe Lincoln's famous saying that Americans like to quote does not totally stand up as to how Congress actually performs. When it comes to Congress, or even to state legislatures, you have...

Consider a young man or woman who has just graduated from medical school and wishes to become a brain surgeon. Our young doctor will have to spend one year in a general surgical residency program, followed by six more years as a resident in neurosurgery. To recap: brain surgeon, seven years. And yet, the Florida Legislature this past week announced that its members cannot master the demands of their job within the measly eight years allowed by Florida's term limits. Nope. A Florida legislator really needs at least 12 years to learn the ropes in Tallahassee, the Legislature declared. And...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An Assembly committee Tuesday joined the effort to clamp limits on how much candidates and officeholders such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can raise for ballot measure committees they control. The Elections and Redistricting Committee approved a bill by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, that would allow donors to give no more than $5,600 to those committees, although the limit would be adjusted for inflation every two years. A Sacramento judge last month struck down a broader range of donation limits adopted by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, but Wolk predicted her bill could survive a court challenge...

Excerpts: "Midway through his second term, [Colorado Gov. Bill] Owens is working to persuade Coloradans to suspend the limits he championed and let the state government spend $3 billion more in tax money than TABOR would allow. ... " During the boom years of the 1990s, with population and personal income soaring, the limits worked well. But the economic downturn and the reduction in federal support during the first Bush term proved disastrous for Colorado's finances. The state put off building roads and maintaining infrastructure. It reduced services and raised fees. Spending on higher education fell so sharply that the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A judge cleared the way for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to raise unlimited cash to promote his agenda to voters, ruling Friday that the state's political watchdog improperly limited donations for ballot measures. The ruling overturned a regulation that would have restricted Schwarzenegger's efforts to raise $50 million for a package of constitutional amendments he wants to put before voters in the fall. Schwarzenegger and political allies sued the Fair Political Practices Commission earlier this month to overturn the limits on contributions to ballot measure committees controlled by a candidate. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang...