Fair Elections Gets Stump Time
Our friends over at Common Cause highlight the recent Democratic debate in Nevada where public funding of elections got some air play. Senator Obama explained:
Ultimately, what I would like to see is a system of public financing of campaigns and I am a co-sponsor of the proposal that is in the Senate right now. That’s what we have to fight for.
Watch it.
In fact, all of the Democratic candidates have expressed their support for a congressional public funding system modeled on those in Arizona and Maine. Senator Clinton announced her support back in April.
The publicity is great. However, in the meantime, nearly all of the candidates could be doing a lot more to disclose where their private money is coming from. Yesterday, we sent letters to candidates asking them (again) to make the information on how much money their bundlers are raising for their campaigns public.
A keystone benefit of public funding is that special interest money can no longer buy influence with candidates. Until we fix the presidential public financing system, the voters at the very least have the right to know who is bankrolling the candidates.