• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

The recent Supreme Court decision to remove restrictions on corporate spending on elections, shocked many Americans. Now, another protected front on money in elections is under attack – in particular what are called “soft money” contributions. Political parties are allowed to receive donations of up to $28,500 from individuals and none from corporations or labor unions, this according to one major aspect of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Soft money is essentially unregulated and cannot be spent by a party on running candidates in federal elections. It is instead meant for the purposes of “party building” and other activities. After the successful election of Barack Obama to the presidency the Republican National Committee has been challenging the limits on soft money in court even though those limits were upheld by a Supreme Court decision in 2003. A three-judge panel in late March rejected the RNC’s arguments, referring to the 2003 ruling. Any appeal to that decision goes directly to the Supreme Court. With the RNC already promising to appeal, and a different mix of Supreme Court justices than in 2003, more likely to do away with campaign finance laws, the soft money ban is potentially in jeopardy.

GUEST: Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, an expert on campaign finance reform among other things

For more information visit www.citizen.org, and www.dontgetrolled.org.