June 20th the “Fair Elections Now Act” will have its first hearing before the Senate Rules Committee. Lead sponsors Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) will testify in support of the bill. This hearing is an important step in advancing the Fair Elections Now Act in the Senate, and winning full public financing for all congressional races.
The four part approach in the “Fair Elections Now Act” would create a fair system of campaign financing to restore Americans’ confidence in our elections process and break the dependence on special interest lobbyists for campaign contributions. Specifically, it would:
* Allow candidates to raise a limited amount of seed money, capped at $100 per contributor, to get their campaigns up and running
* Require candidates to raise a specified number of $5 contributions (based on the size of their state) from residents of their state in order to demonstrate that they are serious, viable candidates deserving of public funding
* Once a candidate qualifies for public funding, he or she is eligible to receive a minimum of $750,000, plus an additional $150,000 for every congressional district in the state minus one
* If a candidate is being outspent by independent expenditures or an opponent who has opted-out of the Fair Elections system, the law would match that spending dollar-for-dollar up to 200 percent of the base allocation
An overhaul of our election system is long overdue. Past efforts to reform campaign finance like McCain-Feingold — however well intended — have just shifted the path of special interest money, not ended its corrosive effect. The only way to prevent another Jack Abramoff is to take the big money out of politics altogether by establishing a fair system of public funding.
Almost as important as how important legislative decisions are made is how important decision makers are elected.
Born 1950, Married, Living in Austin Texas, Semi
Retired Small Business owner and investor. My political interest
evolved out of his business experience that the best decisions come out of an objective gathering of information and a pragmatic consideration of costs and benefits. I am interested in promoting Centrist candidates and Policies. My posts are mostly about people and policies that I believe are part of the solution rather the problem.