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End the Money Chase, Get Back to the Business of Governing
Next week, 535 Members of Congress will file their quarterly fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission. The reports will say little or nothing about the quality of their leadership and everything about their chances of winning reelection.
For the non-wealthy unknown American, the details of the reports present a warning: Don't even think about becoming a candidate for office. The reason is that the cost of running a campaign is a barrier to entry that continues to grow with each new election cycle.
For example, if you want to be a credible candidate in a New York Senate race you'll need a minimum of $25 million; in Montana the stake is $5 million; and in the average congressional race, it's well over $1 million. The Constitution may say you are eligible but a modest campaign budget says you are not.
This is political truth unvarnished by patriotic rhetoric. You say you want to serve your country in Congress? Show me the money. Otherwise, you will be shown the door.
To get the money you'll either need to be sufficiently wealthy that a $25 million expenditure is pocket change or you'll need to do things that make a person with an average capacity for shame and guilt feel like they have done something terribly wrong. Sometimes -- as the latest PMA scandal in Washington reveals -- the feeling will be justified.
If you believe this needs to change, but do not want to modify the First Amendment, the only solution is public funding of Federal elections, driven by small donations. Under such a system, serious, hardworking candidates who say no to special interest money and accept only small donations from their constituents, receive enough in matching funds to run a competitive campaign.
And as effective as opponents of public funding are at fogging the view of citizens who are appalled by the status quo, every new election cycle brings news that the cost of running Federal campaigns has gone up again.
Former Senators Bill Bradley, Alan Simpson, Warren Rudman, and I have proposed this modest solution. Our answer is a voluntary system of public funding that preserves the First Amendment, lowers the barrier to entry and will liberate our representatives from the burdens and temptations associated with asking others for money. Senator Dick Durbin (Ill) and Congressman John Larson (Conn) have taken up the challenge by introducing the Fair Elections Now Act in Congress.
I commend any Congressman or Senator who wishes to end the money chase and get back to the business of governing. Leadership should matter more than quarterly fundraising reports.
Former Senator Bob Kerrey is a co-chair of Americans for Campaign Reform.
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Doing his part in maintaining the status quo.
Please consider promoting this response to campaign solicitations:
"I will only make donations to candidates who declare in writing that they will champion and sponsor strong legislation for publicly financed campaigns and non-partisan redistricting. I believe many reform activists feel likewise."
Thanks,
This could be the heart of a simple and influential movement.
serious, hardworking candidates who say no to special interest money and accept only small donations from their constituents, receive enough in matching funds to run a competitive campaign.
And serious, hardworking candidates who accept special interest money and accept small donations from their constituents can afford to refuse matching funds and get elected President with campaign funds to burn through the last week of the election. Do you really think the candidate that voluntarily agrees to the proposed terms will receive enough in matching funds to run a competitive campaign?
As long as campaign donations are "free speech" things won't change. It doesn't take modification of the First Amendment to correct the ludicrous notion of bribery as free speech. If you finance a group that advocates and plans overthrowing the government, you are arrested and tried for treason and/or sedition. You don't get off because you were just exercising your First Amendment right of Free Speech.
Agreed. (However, when a politician says something I agree with, I remain skeptical till receiving the devilish details.)
Step 1 is campaign finance reform.
Step 2 is outlawing all lobbying gifts and favors while the person is in office.
Step 3 is somehow preventing corporations and other bigmoney entities from paying for smear campaigns and-or support campaigns. Example: You might think you're in a fair and level campaign until you get smeared by an ad campaign that is funded by your opponents' secret friends, the private insurers.
Former Sen. Kerrey must know all this. Maybe he's trying to keep it simple.
Thanks Senator Kerry for a well written article. We must change the election laws so elections are entirely funded with public money. It is the only way we the people will ever get our government to work for the people and not for big money of all kinds. Big money equals power in this country just like the old European contries many of our ancestors left to come here in the hopes of freeing their families from the oppression that had made life for the poor and middle class impossible. It is time we the people took back our government so it's primary job is to serve the people and not the big moneyed companies and rich special interests.
Mr. Kerrey, do you still think it was a good idea to invade and occupy Iraq? Do you still support the Bush policies you advocated so strongly?
Sorry, sir, but you don't have very much credibility any more. Most of us don't regard you as someone we respect. You did this to yourself.
So...because he was wrong on Iraq, he must also be wrong on campaign finance?
Posts and attitudes like this are why nothing ever gets done anymore. If I disagree with you on one issue I can not possibly agree with you on anything else !
Great idea.
But this isn't going to change in my lifetime.
Our government was bought and paid for decades ago.
You are on the right track. Now make the private donations anonymous and add a spending ceiling to the mix and you might have a path back to government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Private campaign financing is legalized bribery. It should end now. That will solve many other problems.
The Supreme Court ruled that private donations were equivalent to speech and protected by the First Amendment. Unless the court reverses itself (not bloody likely given its present composition), we will have to find other means to elect candidates to serve us.
Senator Kerry's suggestion is a good start.
when campaigns are publically financed and capped and elections are shorted to 90 days ---then and only the can anyone say CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA.
that will be the day when fascism is defeated and government of the people returns.
the exploding sun will engulf the earth before that happens.
Another way to get reform, is to make sure that those representatives that take contributions from health insurance industry, and vote against the wishes of the 70%+. of the american people be kick out of office when they come for reelection. Campaign promises do not matter, what matter is how they vote.
And they will be replaced by someone who takes contributions from the coal mining industry and nothing has changed except the corporate master. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Or ... we, the people, take it to the streets en masse. How many more regular citizens does it take to fall off the road of financial freedom due to job losses, high medical bills, mortgage defaults, credit card defaults ... before we decide we must help each other, and ultimately ourselves? The bankers, the insurance companies, the chemical companies, the coal companies, they don't have your interest in mind ... but they do have the interest and the attention of your elected officials.
That's the giant farce here. How long can we continue to make these obscene profits on the backs of the American people. The banks not only made a mess of their own investment dollars, they then were handed trillions more from the taxpayers. Now who is laughing all the way to the bank? Not the people who got a jab from the banks in additional credit card interest rates. Not the small businesses who are still not receiving the loans they need in order to keep their doors open.
We need to unite ... a day in the streets for we, the people. Strikes of all kinds on that day. Let our elected officials feel our needs. Keep the strikes going until they do something. It didn't take much time at all for them to bail out the banks. What about us?
There is another benefit to limiting candidates to moderate-sized donations from their constituents: it will limit the amount of money they can spend and force them to actually meet with their constituents or would-be constituents instead of simply contracting out their campaign to political marketeers.
Two other issues need to be addressed:
o Rich candidates should only subject to the same donation limits as any other donor
o How will the issue of independent advocacy expenditures be handled?
This is the ONLY way that anything in this country will change! Thank you!
Go Bob! Between this and Arianna's lobbying post, it's a great day on HuffPo! There's lots more at http://youstreet.org and http://youstreet.org/fairelections.
This is perhaps the first step to real changes in our government. Without it, we will never be truly represented.
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