Matching Funds Decision

On January 20, 2010, a federal district court judge declared unconstitutional the challenged “Matching Funds” provision of Arizona’s so-called “Clean Elections Act,” striking a blow for the rights of individuals and groups to speak freely during political campaigns.  The Institute for Justice is challenging Arizona’s scheme of publicly financing elections, which drowns out the voices of individuals and groups who wish to support privately financed candidates who run against taxpayer-funded candidates in a misguided effort to “level the playing filed.” If a group makes an independent expenditure in favor a privately funded candidate, the unelected bureaucrats at the Clean Elections Commission dole out dollar-for-dollar “matching funds” to the publicly funded candidate. That means that for every dollar an individual or group spends to support the candidate of their choice, over the publicly funded candidate’s initial government subsidy, the government pays an equal amount of money to the political competition. IJ also seeks to preserve the right of individuals to run for public office without having to accept taxpayer funds. Arizona’s public financing scheme punishes candidates who reject the political welfare of public funding by burying them in red tape and giving extra money to their publicly funded opponents. The case is being appealed to the Ninth Circuit, where IJ will again demonstrate that "clean Elections" doesn't level the playing field, it levels the players on the field.http://www.ij.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1227&Itemid=165

How the Matching Fund System works - http://www.fec.gov/info/chone.htm#anchor1556220
Common Cause - Campaign Finance Reform - http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7Bfb3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/COMMONCAUSECAMPAIGNFINANCEREFORMAGENDA2009.PDF
Paper -  The Potential Effects of Public Funding on Political Parties - http://campfin.polisci.wisc.edu/Conf/LaRaja.pdf

If I had a dollar for every time.... Here are the December fundraising numbers for the six major party committees (November numbers are here):

Committee	December Receipts	December Spent	Cash-on-Hand	CoH Change	Debt
DCCC	$3,814,572	$2,485,106	$16,681,433	$1,329,466	$2,000,000
NRCC	$3,214,159	$4,887,837	$2,674,277	($1,673,679)	$0
DSCC	$3,400,000	$2,600,000	$12,500,000	$600,000	$1,250,000
NRSC	$4,100,000	$3,100,000	$8,300,000	$1,000,000	$0
DNC	$4,536,164	$9,058,004	$8,683,337	($4,503,910)	$4,699,610
RNC	$6,844,861	$7,172,005	$8,421,948	($327,144)	$0
Total Dem	$11,750,736	$14,143,110	$37,864,770	($2,574,444)	$7,949,610
Total GOP	$14,159,020	$15,159,842	$19,396,225	($1,000,823)	$0

Heavy spending by many of the committees leaves both sides with lighter wallets as of December 31st, but moreso for Democrats than Republicans. The DNC gets whooped yet again, and even the NRSC edges the DSCC. All three Dem committees paid down some debt, but the NRCC managed to wipe out all of the $2 million it owed. Feisty creditors, or expectations that good times are about to roll?
http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/6330/december-party-committee-fundraising-roundup