Meet 'biennial limit'

By: Jennifer Foster | Opelika Auburn News
Published: September 18, 2008 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

Did you notice anything strange in that story about Barack Obama's fundraiser last night?

When I read that the per-plate rate was $28,500 for attendees, I wondered, how can that be? I thought the individual contribution limit for federal candidates was $2,300.

It is.

But the catch is that last night's event wasn't just for Obama. Organizers were able to access the higher individual contribution threshold because the funds were raised not just for Barack Obama, but also for the Democratic National Committee.

Dear readers, meet the individual contribution limit's lesser-known and more troublesome cousin, "biennial limit."

Biennial limits, as the FEC explains, cap the contributions an individual can make over a two-year period to federal candidates, party committees and political action committees (PACs).

Whereas the individual contribution limit to individual candidates is $2,300 per election cycle, the biennial limit is indexed for inflation in odd-numbered years ... and for 2007-08, it's $108,200.

Per person.

According to the Federal Elections Commission, this breaks down to $42,700 in contributions to candidate committees and $65,500 in contributions to any other committees, of which no more than $42,700 of this amount may be given to committees that are not national party committees.

Are your eyes crossed yet?

That's exactly what lawmakers were counting on when they created this labyrinthine system.

According to the non-profit, non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice, a tiny fraction of Americans make political contributions greater than $200. For the 2004 election cycle, those donors comprised less than 0.6 percent of all contributors.

You know what that means: The fewer they are, the greater their influence.

The biennial limit provision is just one of the lovely loopholes that assist the wealthy in making a mockery of the American campaign finance system.

See also:

Befuddled by the presidential campaign finance system? Contrary to what Congress might want you to think, you're not an idiot, and you're not alone. Check out this roundup of the rules from investigative journalism site ProPublica, which seeks to plug the hole in that field that have resulted from the slash-and-burn cost-cutting tactics of newspapers all across the country.