Limits and Loopholes

From the authors of Legislative Labyrinth: Congress and Campaign Finance Reform.Elections, the basic mechanism of representative democracy, should be untainted by corruption and provide a platform for free speech. But running for office takes money&BAD:-a lot of it, usually&BAD:-which means campaign finance has become a pitched battle over the fundamental political values of free speech versus fair elections. With insiders' perspectives, Farrar-Myers and Dwyre tell the story of what it took to pass campaign finance legislation, provide analysis of the subsequent court action, and explore the regulatory and electoral outcomes of reform efforts. Limits and Loopholes is a story about incremental policymaking and inter-branch struggle, about institutional design and unintended consequences, about the influence of interest groups and the media, and about the health of our representative democracy. Bringing together discussions of core values and the policymaking process, this book serves as an excellent case study that traces an issue from inception, through legislation and litigation, and finally to implementation.

Victoria A. Farrar-Myers is associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her research on the American presidency, presidential-congressional relations, and campaign finance reform has been published in such journals as Political Research Quarterly and Congress the Presidency, as well as in numerous edited volumes. She is the author of Scripted for Change: The Institutionalization of the American Presidency. Farrar-Myers has received the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship, a research grant from the Dirksen Congressional Center, and several teaching awards. Diana Dwyre is professor of political science and chair of the Department of Political Science at California State University, Chico. Her research on campaign finance, Congress, and political parties has appeared in journals and in several books, such as The Election after Reform and Financing the 2004 Election. She was the 1998 American Political Science Association Steiger Congressional Fellow and is co-chair of the Campaign Finance Research Group.