1. Picture: Thomas Nast's cartoon depicting William “Boss” Tweed with a money bag for a head.

2. Federal Elections Commission
An independent agency in charge of administering all laws dealing with federal elections
Under-funded and under-staffed

3. Require timely disclosures about the source of the money
Place limits on campaign contributions
Place limits on campaign expenditures
Provide public funding for several parts of the presidential election process

4. The history of campaign spending for president – showing the dramatic increase in the cost to run for office.

5. Chart showing what expenses were used for by candidate Trump over a short period in 2015.

6. Fundraising and spending on House of Representatives elections from 1992 and 2016.

7. Hard Money - given directly to a candidate for the purpose of use in an election.
FEC regulated
Soft Money - given to state and local party organizations for voting related activities.
NOT FEC regulated

8. Individuals: limited to $2,700 per election
Interest Groups/PAC’s: limited to $5,000 per election
Political Parties
Government Subsidies

9. A Political Action Committee (PAC) - committee that raises and spends money to elect or defeat candidates; restricted in how much can be used to support specific candidates.
Super PAC: A type of PAC that may raise and spend unlimited sums of money for advertisements to support or oppose political candidates.
Unlike traditional PACs, Super PACs may not donate money directly to candidates.

10. Super Pac
Super Pac

11. PAC
Amount Raised
% to Dem
% to Rep
National Association of Realtors
$3,960,700
42%
58%
National Auto Dealers Association
$2,659,250
28%
72%
Super PAC
Amount Raised
Viewpoint
Priorities USA Action
$133,407,972
Liberal
Right to Rise USA
$86,817,138
Conservative
Senate Leadership Fund
$85,994,270
Senate Majority PAC
$75,413,426