Today's campaign finance
system is in need of reform. 84%
of Wisconsin citizens who voted on November 7, 2000 agree. Special interests and wealthy donors
have too much hold over our legislature.
Races are becoming increasingly expensive.
Candidates with the
talent for the office but not the financial resources decide not to run. People are becoming disillusioned by
the process and many don't vote.
The system, frankly, is becoming dangerously close to legalized
bribery. So this session, I will
be introducing a bill that would give Wisconsin voluntary 100% public financing
of state elections.
Maine already has a
voluntary 100% public funding for state elections. They call this system clean money elections. To qualify for the public funding,
candidates need to collect a set number of $5 dollar contributions from
registered voters in their district.
They also must agree to accept no other private donations. Then they are given a grant from the
state to run their election.
Special interests and political action committees can not give to the
campaign of a clean candidate.
Individuals only contribute during the qualifying process when they give
$5 dollars to the candidate. They
can still donate to a traditional candidate. And in order to allow clean candidates to compete with
traditional candidates, there are dollar-for-dollar matching funds.
A clean candidate can
receive matching funds as their opponent's spending increases past the amount
of the initial public grant. This
matching is capped at double the amount initially granted. There is also a mechanism that allows
for matching funds to be allocated when independent expenditures are
involved. If a clean candidate is
the target of a negative ad or his/ her opponent is praised in one, the clean
candidate receives funds that allow them to respond to that ad.
The benefits of 100%
public financing of state elections are many. This campaign financing system takes the money out of
politics. It levels the playing
field and allows for more competition.
In Maine, there were 40% more contested primaries in 2000 than in
1998. The system has bipartisan
support. 63% of clean candidates
in Maine were Democrats and 34% Republican. It focuses on voter contact rather than fundraising. Candidates can focus on talking to
citizens about issues not worry about fundraising. Legislators are held accountable to taxpayers not special
interests.
Some people don't like
the idea of taxpayers paying for campaigns. But they already do through corporate welfare such as tax
breaks, subsidies, and
loopholes. Wisconsin Electric
employees gave Governor Thompson $28,170.
In "return", they received a $9 million low-cost loan. Quad Graphics employees gave
Thompson $27,798 and received $3.3 million in "incentives". Special
interests' "incentives" cost taxpayers money. Offering a campaign finance system that
excludes special interests and takes the money out of campaigns is a beneficial
and important thing to do. We need
to restore our democracy and allow elections to fulfill the purpose eloquently
put by James Madison in Federalist #57.
The purpose of elections is to give us " men who possess most
wisdom to discern and most virtue to pursue the common good of
society." The voluntary 100%
public campaign financing system I will be introducing early this session will
help do just that.
As always, you can reach
me at (phone) 266-8570,
(e-mail)
mark.pocan@legis.state.wi.us <mailto:mark.pocan@legis.state.wi.us> or you may write to P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708.
-By
State Representative Mark Pocan