It would be a tragedy if our basic beliefs and ideals were swamped by tidal waves of money pouring into election campaigns. But it’s starting to happen.
We believe in government by the people, but we see candidates with the most money winning 90 percent of the elections for the U.S. and state House of Representatives.
We believe in self-determination and community values, but we see outside money dominating ever more elections. Some legislative candidates grab 80 percent or more of their campaign cash comes from deep pockets headquartered hundreds or thousands of miles from their districts.
Let’s face it: Extremely wealthy interest groups of both parties that exert political power from K Street, Wall Street, union halls or millionaires with money to burn are like behemoth Wal-Marts in the marketplace of ideas. They drown out hometown values and voices with mass mailings, robo-calls and radio blitzes fueled by imported cash.
We need to take back our democracy with public campaign financing.
Public campaign financing not only deters influence-peddling and corruption, it also gives the voices and values of ordinary citizens a fair chance to be heard again. That’s why I’m working with Washington Public Campaigns (www.washclean.org) and Sen. Jim Kastama for public financing that puts the public first in public elections again.
Under our proposal, a candidate could qualify for public funding if he or she:
1) Collects $5 contributions from at least 200 citizens
who live in the legislative district;
2) Refuses any contributions from political action
committees, political parties, unions, corporations or any
other entity;
3) Pledges to abide by strict campaign spending limits, and
not to spend more than $500 of their own money, and to
participate in public debates.
Governor Gregoire wants public financing for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals races. There are also calls for local-option public campaign financing. Why are these ideas gaining support? Because public financing is successfully energizing citizen involvement and clean campaigns in Maine and Arizona. Individuals who couldn’t possibly raise enough cash to run for office under the unreformed system are not only running but winning clean campaigns. In the 2006 elections, 84 percent of all the Republicans and Democrats in the Maine Legislature ran clean campaigns, refused special interest donations and abided by strict spending limits.
Public financing also gives candidates more time to listen to everyday citizens. As Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has said, “I got to spend time with voters, as opposed to spending time dialing for dollars or trying to sell tickets to $250-a-plate fund-raisers.”
We can easily afford public financing of all statewide and legislative elections. Washington Public Campaigns estimates it would only cost each citizen $3.36 per year. Unfortunately, public financing will not pass this legislative session. But we’ve laid the groundwork and I believe we will ultimately succeed.
Citizens are increasingly sickened by the justified feeling that huge moneyed interests have bred scandals and hijacked our elections. They long to return to a vision of democracy that emphasizes a rich diversity of voices, community values and the extraordinary possibilities of ordinary people.
This is the vision that long ago gave rise to our American form of government and the Democratic party. With public financing we can make this vision a reality again.