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Checkbook Democracy: How Money Corrupts Political Campaigns

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Another reviewer claimed that this should be required reading for all political science students. Although the book and ideas put forth are clear, concise, and powerful, I would only recommend this work to the scholar that is interested in campaign financing. All others would be fine to just read a few articles in Slate or the New York Times on the matter.

The book is basically divided into three sections. The first section (chapters one through eight) deals with "how money corrupts political campaigns," which is fittingly the book's subtitle. Here the author Darrell West, who is a professor at Brown University, addresses this topic wonderfully, providing not only the "how" of money in political campaigns, but also the "who, what, when, and where." Each chapter discusses in detail various incidents that have either led up to the current situation in campaign finances, like the 1976 Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo to among other reforms create the Federal Election Commission, or incidents that have recently contributed to the problem. Illegal financing and sneaky financing are explored from both sides (Democrat and Republican) and this is perhaps the biggest strength of the book.

The chapters include the following topics: The Willie Horton Independent Expenditure, Issue Advocacy and the Christian Action Network, Contribution Limits, Foreign Nationals and the DNC, the Teamsters and the Clinton White House, Big Tobacco and the RNC, and Non-Profits, Foundations, and Tax-Exempt Organizations.

The second part of the book (beginning of chapter 9) deals with why campaign finance is not a hot topic in Washington. The reasons are fairly obvious, but the author does do a nice job of exploring them. The only critique I have is the media factor that West thinks plays into the current system. He argues that journalists make the problem worse by reporting even the slightest campaign blunder, and that this creates cynicism in the public. The cynicism is there because of corruption by many politicians (Clinton, Nixon, et al) and the media's influence is little at best.

The final part of the book (end of chapter 9) is West's suggestions for campaign financing. Reading through the first eight chapters, I was shocked to read about the corruption in campaigns, and kept asking the question of "what can be done?" About fifteen pages is addressed to this question, with West outlining 13 points that could help. The ideas are good; the only problem is that they are mentioned as afterthoughts, when the "what can be done" question really could encompass an entire book. Regardless, this book was a good read, and I do recommmend it to any interested in campaigns.

In Checkbook Democracy: How Money Corrupts Political Campaigns, Darrell West draws upon his many years of experience and expertise as Professor of Political Science and Director of the John Hazen White, Sr., Public Opinion Laboratory at Brown University to write an engaging and challenging expose on how modern politics has become a never ending money chase. Professor West cogently explains why money has become a perniciously corruptive influence on public debate and what an alert citizenry can do to redeem the this sad and endemic state of political affairs in an American democracy. Checkbook Democracy should be manditory reading by all political science students and brought to the immediate attention of every non-specialist general reader with a desire for political and campaign finance reforms.