Campaign Fundraising by Public Official Associations: Impact on Federal Systems

• In Event: New Research Directions in Federalism

Abstract

This paper explores the role that campaign fundraising by American public official associations plays, situating it in a comparative context and exploring its implications for federal systems. Countries with federal systems of government quite commonly have associations of state-level chief executives. These organizations serve a number of functions, including development and support of best practices, organized meetings, and formal mechanisms to establish policy positions and advocate for state-level interests at the federal level. These groups include the Conference of Autonomous Presidents in Spain; the Council of the Federation in Canada; and the National Governors Association in the United States, among others. Yet the United States has partisan associations that play a role that is unique: that of partisan fundraiser.
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and their affiliated fundraising organizations raise millions of dollars per election cycle to support the election of governors. Though dollar amounts have grown increasingly difficult to track over the years, as the role of 527 groups has increased, it is clear that partisan gubernatorial associations in the U.S. have become increasingly focused on campaign finance. This paper first reviews the federal campaign finance structures in several federal systems, as well as the public official associations in these same countries. It then examines the ways that fundraising and other partisan campaign and party-building activities might be advanced or deterred by public official associations. It concludes by reviewing the effects that campaign finance and public official association fundraising can have on the functioning of a federal system. Though the United States has special considerations due to its campaign finance system, there is still room for partisan public official associations to play a major and potentially destabilizing role in federal systems that do not rely on private contributions to finance political campaigns.

Author

• Jennifer M. Jensen, Lehigh University