The Santa Clara County Democratic
Club recognizes the following problems with our present system of financing
elections:
- Too much money is spent on campaigns
by special interests
- Soft money and "independent"
issue ads bypass limits on campaign spending
- Good candidates without money or connections
can't compete
- Incumbents devote too much time to fund
raising instead of their jobs
- Real reform is seldom achieved because
incumbents oppose it
These problems occur at the local, state,
and federal levels. One long-term solution is "Clean Money Campaign
Reform", a system of voluntary public campaign financing proposed by
Public Campaign, a non-partisan national organization. They provide assistance
to local groups that wish to implement Clean Money reforms, and such laws
have been implemented for state elections by initiatives in Maine, Vermont,
Arizona, and Massachusetts. Efforts to implement public financing for federal
elections have not succeeded. An effort is under way to pass a Clean Money
initiative in California, through a group called California Clean Money
Campaign (CCMC).
Our club will be active in the following
areas
- Educate the public about the need for
campaign finance reform and the benefits of a Clean Money system of voluntary
public financing.
- Ally ourselves with the California Clean
Money Campaign, leading to a ballot initiative that will implement voluntary
public financing in California State elections. Mobilize support for the
initiative campaign. Note: such initiatives failed in the 2000 election
in two states.
- Support voluntary public campaign financing
in local (city/county) elections.
- Let our candidates and office holders
know that we support public campaign financing.
- Analyze proposed campaign finance reform
legislation and initiatives and give support for measures that improve
the election process. We can support incremental reform efforts (such as
McCain-Feingold) while keeping the long-term goal of voluntary public financing.
- Follow the results when campaign finance
reform legislation is implemented to see if it lives up to its promises.
If special interest money still has undue influence in elections, that
would be a powerful argument for Clean Money Campaign Finance Reform.
Revised 5/20/01 |
