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Obama Co-Sponsoring Reform of Public Financing System

February 16th, 2007
By PAUL SILVER

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Senator Obama is the first presidential candidate to co-sponsor S. 436, essential legislation introduced by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to fix the presidential public financing system for future presidential elections.

Senator Obama has provided important national leadership by becoming the first presidential candidate to sponsor vitally-needed reform legislation to protect the integrity of the presidency and to join in the battle for its passage.

Companion legislation to fix the presidential system, H.R. 776, has been introduced in the House by Representatives Marty Meehan (D-MA), Christopher Shays (R-CT) and David Price (D-NC).

The presidential public financing system as it currently stands creates the potential for serious competitive disadvantages for candidates who choose to use the system to finance their 2008 presidential elections. As a result, a number of presidential candidates in both parties are expected to opt out of the system for the 2008 election.

A key test today of where presidential candidates stand on protecting the integrity of the presidency is not whether they use the presidential public financing system in the 2008 election, but whether they make a clear public commitment to support and work for passage of the legislation to fix the system for future presidential races.

Reform groups sent a letter recently urging House members to co-sponsor H.R. 776…The reform groups include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

According to the letter, ”H.R. 776 also has been endorsed by the Committee for Economic Development, an organization of national business leaders and educators, and by Americans for Campaign Reform, an organization whose bipartisan leadership includes former Senators Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Warren Rudman (R-NH), Bob Kerrey (D-NE), and Alan Simpson (R-WY)…”

- excerpted from Democracy 21

I hope these groups are persuasive and expand their concerns to reviving the proposal for public finance of Congressional elections that was almost single-handedly defeated by Minority Leader Senate Mitch McConnell.

I share the concern with others that public campaign finance does not address the role of third parties in influencing elections. I would like to see all political contributions limited to only Individuals. It seems to me that the Supreme Court can make the distinction between freedom of speech and unlimited money used to promote the special interests of non-voters.



This entry was posted on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 6:52 am and is filed under Elections, Supreme Court, Legislation, Centrists, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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