April 6, 2006

By KATY CARTER
Guest Writer

As the Abramoff and DeLay corruption scandals continue to unfold, and as Congress and President Bush continue to pass laws that give tax breaks to the rich while cutting programs that help average and low-income people, you may be asking yourself: Isn’t there a better way? There is, and it starts with public financing of political campaigns.

Consider the scenario in which our elected officials must operate. Nationwide, our politicians spent almost a billion dollars in the 2004 election. Much of that money came from wealthy donors and special interests, even though the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill was intended to severely limit large contributions. Large donors set the agenda in the U.S. As former Senator Alan Simpson once said, “Who, after all, can seriously contend that a $100,000 donation does not alter the way one thinks about — and quite possibly votes on — an issue?”

If you were a candidate running for office, needing the increasingly vast sums of money to win, whom would you be most apt to listen to: the drug company that raises $30,000 for you, or the voter who can afford to give you only $10? According to The Tacoma News Tribune of July 2, 2003, an Associated Press analysis shows that elected officials voted five out of six times in favor of the groups that donated the most money to them. For example, a bill in the U.S. Senate to increase fuel-efficiency standards failed 62 to 38 — with the average no vote getting $18,000 in donations from auto companies and the average yes vote only $6,000. The main conduit for this money is contributions to political campaigns.

Not only does the big money of special interests introduce undue and undemocratic influence into the political process, big money produces other problems: it discourages ordinary citizens from voting; it deters potentially strong candidates from running unless they have an inside track to special-interest money; it forces candidates to spend more time raising money and less time getting out to meet the voters, particularly in lower-income areas; it fuels the public perception of corruption and conflict of interest; and, last but not least, it discourages challengers from entering races against well-funded, entrenched incumbents.

Do you want your elected officials to listen to you as much as to the big and powerful? I know that I do. And I was elated to find that there is a revolution that began in Maine and Arizona. In the late ’90s, both states passed “Clean Money, Clean Elections” initiatives instituting public campaign financing at the state level. They have each run three elections with this system and have enjoyed broad and increasing participation by members of both major parties, as well as members of minor parties. Ten of 11 of Arizona’s statewide elected officials, including its governor, attorney general and treasurer, ran with public money only.

Candidates who opt to run on public money must first demonstrate a strong base of support by securing endorsements and small contributions from a set number of constituents. When they promise not to use any additional private money (their own or anybody else's), the state will provide funding adequate to run a competitive campaign. In Maine and Arizona, public financing won the confidence of veteran campaigners by proving to be more than sufficient to run a credible campaign, while Arizona’s entire program cost the taxpayers less than $1.50 per person per year!

Would you like to see a system like this in Washington state? I work for a group called Washington Public Campaigns, and our sole purpose is to get public campaign financing laws passed here. We have been endorsed by numerous state and local organizations, including the Washington League of Women Voters.

This legislative session, we tried and almost succeeded in getting a bill passed that would allow public campaign financing at the local level (it passed the state Senate but was not brought to a vote in the House). We will try again next year, and, at the same time, we will be working to get public campaign financing at the state level, and ultimately at the national level. We look forward to the day when the concerns of the individual voter are as important as the concerns of corporate and wealthy special interests!

We can also send a speaker to make a presentation to your group. Ironic as it may seem, we need money to continue our effort to get the word out. If you like what we are doing, please send us whatever you can. You can contribute online by credit card, or send a check by mail to the address at the right.

Let’s take our power back from the wealthy special interests! n