Breaking Free With Fair Elections
Executive Summary
Fair Elections – systems with full public financing of elections –
would help improve the openness, honesty, and accountability of
government. They would also free public officials to respond to the
interests of voters without worrying about hurting their ability to
raise money from deep-pocketed donors.
Most
observers would agree that money plays far too large a role in
elections – and that politicians spend too much time fundraising,
detracting from the time they spend developing good public policy.
If
we want to protect the environment, design a better health care system
or improve our energy policy, we need a political system that
encourages lawmakers to listen more to voters than to oil and gas
companies, pharmaceutical giants and other industries.
Fair
Elections are a bold solution to the problem of money in politics.
Three states – Maine, Connecticut and Arizona – have instituted the
systems for statewide and legislative elections. Publicly financed
elections for some public offices, including judgeships, exist in four
additional states, and the solution has been implemented in two major
cities. Other states, such as Maryland, are actively considering
similar proposals for their state elections.
The systems work.
Public funding systems in the states today draw rave reviews from
lawmakers while producing more diverse fields of candidates. They also
provide voters with immediate return on their small investment of faith
and money: lawmakers who run under the systems spend significantly less
time raising money than those who do not, giving them more time to do
the work of the people.
This momentum is now spreading to
Washington. Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to
provide full public financing for congressional elections.
The
proposed congressional systems and those in effect in the states are
variations on a theme. They require that candidates agree to accept
little private money and to abide by
spending limits. In exchange, candidates with demonstrated support qualify for enough public money to run viable campaigns.
The
systems are sensible. They are entirely voluntary and impose no new
restrictions on the campaign fundraising or spending of those who do
not participate. And they transform elections into true contests of
ideas and merit, rather than fundraising prowess.
The cost of a
full congressional Fair Elections system would be tiny in the scope of
the overall federal budget, which is nearing $3 trillion. And the
program would accrue enormous savings by reducing wasteful
expenditures, such as earmarks arranged by lobbyists.
Democratic,
Republican and independent voters all support Fair Elections. Nearly 75
percent of respondents – including 80 percent of Democrats and 65
percent of Republicans – said in a mid-2006 poll that they supported a
voluntary public funding system.
Meanwhile, public approval of Congress plunged to historic depths.
Implementing
a public funding system for Congress would make elections more open and
empower voters. Americans are clamoring for a change – one that puts
them in charge.
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