Posted 10:47 PM by Floyd

Lawyers are elected to office to create laws, they are elected and appointed to judicial positions to interpret laws, and they appear in front of juries who make judgements based on laws. Some lawyers make obscene amounts of money suing people or industries, and use this cash to get themselves elected to high office. Lawyers also lobby government on their behalf in various collective and individual ways -- for instance the American Bar Association attempts to wield veto power over judicial nominations.

None of this is enough of an advantage, I suppose, so some law offices are funnelling money to John Edwards' presidential campaign by proxy. "The Hill" newspaper investigated Edwards' campaign funds and found that employees at law firms would each donate the $2,000 maximum to Edwards -- all on the same day. Some of the employees were not making much money, and The Hill even found one donor who had declared bankruptcy!

What will happen to Edwards as a result of this? Nothing. At worst he will receive a slap on the wrist. And that is why I am unalterably opposed to campaign finance "reform" laws, even if you ignore the issue of the First Amendment. The big sharks can do what they want, while real grassroots organizations get screwed.

Here's an example of the latter: California State Senator David Roberti earned the ire of gun owners when he co-sponsored an assault weapons ban ten years ago. So they targeted him for a recall. Whatever you may think of the merits of the recall group, Californians Against Corruption, they were clearly grassroots -- just a bunch off pissed-off gunowners tilting at windmills.

CAC unseated Roberti -- and were then investigated by California's campaign finance cops. There was no real evidence of wrongdoing, but CAC had not fully complied with the onerous recordkeeping mandated by campaign finance "reform".

CAC's punishment for unseating a powerful senator was a fine of $800,000 dollars. I guess this kind of thing makes John McCain sleep better at night; I'm not sure why.

(The whole sordid affair is explained in this excellent Reason article.)