ILP v Madigan
Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, the Campaign Legal Center and Chicago Appleseed have filed an amicus (.pdf download) in ILP v Madigan, in support of Illinois’ campaign contribution limits.
ILP (the Illinois Liberty PAC) and an individual who contributes both to individual candidates and to ILP have challenged Illinois’ campaign disclosure and donation regulation laws which impose per election cycle dollar limits on contributions. Specifically, the law imposes a $50,000 per election cycle limit on contributions from ILP to a candidate for state office, a $5,000 per election cycle limit on contributions from the individual plaintiff to a candidate for state office, and a $10,000 per election cycle limit from the individual plaintiff to the PAC, ILP. Among other things, the plaintiffs argue that these limits impermissibly burden the political speech of both the individual plaintiff and the entity plaintiff.
Chicago Appleseed joined in filing the amicus because we firmly believe that the contribution limits are constitutional and because we strongly believe they are necessary to maintain fairness in elections. As we argued in the brief:
These limits are closely drawn to match the state’s compelling interest in preventing corruption and the circumvention of candidate contributions limits and, this, are constitutional. Indeed, these Illinois limits are far more accommodating of plaintiff’s constitutional rights than the federal law $1,000 contribution limit upheld in Buckley v. Valeo, the federal law $5,000 limit upheld in Cal Med Association v. FEC, and the state law contribution limits ranging from $275 to $1,075 upheld in Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC.
Until these donation limits were put in place, Illinois was one of only five states in the U.S. that did not regulate and limit campaign contributions. These limits were imposed as an attempt to reform the campaign financing system in Illinois, to eliminate the corrupting influence of big money donors. As at least one study has shown, reducing the impact of large donations in campaigns (in favor of small individual contributions) helps focus candidate’s attention on individual constituents and brings them closer in line with the needs of the communities they represent.