22
Profit Groups in Federal Elections, 31 N. KY. L. REV. 243,
280 (2004) (“Today’s electioneering non-profit groups . . .
can make no such promises of access in exchange for a soft
money contribution.”).
More fundamentally, non-profit groups do not have the
same inherent relationship with federal candidates and
officeholders that political parties do. The McConnell Court
identified numerous “real-world differences between political
parties and interest groups.” 540 U.S. at 188. “Interest
groups do not select slates of candidates for elections.
Interest groups do not determine who will serve on legislative
committees, elect congressional leadership, or organize
legislative caucuses. Political parties have influence and
power in the Legislature that vastly exceeds that of any
interest group. As a result, it is hardly surprising that party
affiliation is the primary way by which voters identify
candidates, or that parties in turn have special access to and
relationships with federal officeholders.” Id. As noted in
McConnell, Congress recognized these differences and
enacted a statutory scheme under which “[i]nterest groups . . .
remain free to raise soft money to fund voter registration,
GOTV activities, mailings,” and advertising. Id. at 187.
In sum, it will not work to simply transport McConnell’s
holding from the political party context to the non-profit
setting. On this question as well, we agree with Judge
Wilkinson: “It is . . . not an exaggeration to say that
McConnell views political parties as different in kind than
independent expenditure committees.” N.C. Right to Life, 525
F.3d at 293.
For non-profit entities, the most pertinent Supreme Court
precedents remain Buckley, Cal-Med, Citizens Against Rent
Control, NCPAC, and MCFL. As discussed above, those