Corporate Contributions to Ballot-Measure Campaigns

It is not clear that the perceived dangers of corporate participation in politics are real dangers, or that outright prohibition of such participation is the best means of preserving the democratic character of the electoral process. Any controls on corporate spending in initiative campaigns should be firmly based upon articulated conceptions of the corporation’s legitimate role in society. This article examines some of these conceptions and their relationship to the process of direct legislation and thereafter makes recommendations for workable controls in light of that analysis.