ABSTRACT
In addition to the Committee for the Future of America, which was registered with the Federal Election Commission, four state-level political action committees (PAC) were formed to raise and spend money in ways that would be helpful to the prospective presidential candidate. These PACs were able to collect contributions under the laws in the individual states in which the PACs were registered. In all presidential elections held between 1974 and 1992, the limits achieved their intended effect of eliminating large direct contributions from wealthy donors to presidential candidates. The plaintiff’s primary argument stipulated that the proposed independent spending would violate a provision of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act that prohibited organized political committees from spending more than $1,000 on behalf of a candidate who accepts public funding. America’s system of public funding that has served five presidential elections has demonstrated many problems that need fixing. None of the problems, however, is so severe as to undermine its survival.
