The Important Bill

Occasionally I get the sense that someone in Washington D.C. is actually paying attention. For years I have been pounding a single note on the political keyboard, namely campaign finance reform. There is a bill in play right now that actually addresses the problem.

I have written about how people focus on political personalities while ignoring the system that promoted those personalities. Imagine you have a machine that makes coffee cups. You pull a lever and out comes a cup. You pour coffee in it and find that there is a hole in the bottom. Coffee leaks out on your lap. You discard that cup, pull the lever again, get another cup, pour more coffee, and get another cup in your lap. Repeat, repeat, repeat. You can discard cups forever, but until you fix the machine you are going to keep getting burned.

The most significant two numbers in U.S. politics are 2,400 and 30,400. These are the numbers of dollars that an individual can give to a federal candidate or a national party. The problem with these numbers is that very few people in this country can afford them. Perhaps one out of a thousand Americans can donate anything close to these amounts on a regular basis.

The Public Interest Research Group did an analysis of campaign finance over a number of election cycles and found that, on average:

• Whichever candidate in a congressional primary spent the most money won, 9 times out of 10.
• The high spender outspent the number two spender 3:1 – it generally wasn’t close.
• 75% of the money that these high spending winners raised came in big chunks - $500 up to the $2,400 limit.

 I like to say that the difference between elections in Iran and elections in the U.S. is that in Iran a small group of mullahs decides who gets to run for office and in the U.S. a small group of millionaires makes that decision.

The bill in question is the Fair Elections Now Act. It would beef up the public campaign funding available to candidates who are either unwilling or unable to schmooze millionaires. The vital number here is $100, the limit for contributions to candidates taking advantage of the public funding. Each candidate would have to raise thousands of sub-$100 donations in order to qualify for funding.

Qualified House candidates would get $900,000, split 40/60 between the primary and general elections. Senate candidates would get $1.25 million plus $250,000 per district in their state, again, split 40/60. This is real money for contesting an election.

Even better, if a publicly funded candidate faces a high spender, he or she can raise more $100 donations and have them matched 4:1. This provides the monetary parity that swings elections.

The cherry on top is mandated discounts on media buys and media vouchers of $100,000 per congressional district.

The question must pop into your mind: Where will all this money come from? Oh, it gets better. Government contractors (Halliburton, anyone?) will pay a percentage of their contracts into the campaign finance fund. The fund will also get the proceeds of sales of portions of the broadcast spectrum.

You can read about the legislation in detail at Public Campaign and Fix Congress First!. The Senate bill is S.752 and the House version is H.1826.

This is a complete game changer. Finally, candidates with opinions that might offend the mighty will have funding equal to their less discriminating opponents. This is the fix that the machine has been needing.

Thankfully, all my elected representatives are on board. Senators Leahy and Sanders will cosponsor, as will Representative Welch. There are over a hundred cosponsors in the house right now, but there are many yet unconverted.

I don’t ask for action from my readers very often, but I do now. Forward the news of this legislation to everyone you know. It isn’t a liberal/conservative issue, it’s a 99.9% of Americans who can’t fling $2,400 checks around issue. Ask people to contact their Senators and Representatives and firmly demand their support for this bill. Those legislators that are already supporters should get praise and thanks. Here’s a list of who’s who in terms of demands or thanks.

Examine any government policy that angers or mystifies you and you can almost always trace it back to the undue influence of big money in our electoral system. The big money rewards the spineless, the hacks, the flunkies, the ethically challenged, the shortsighted, and the just plain evil. The Fair Elections Now Act is the most important piece of legislation I have seen since I started paying attention to politics. Let’s get it passed.