Taking another shot at public financing of campaigns

Suppose you were self-employed and were a member of an association of people in the same business. One day a group comes to your association’s meeting and asks the members to vote to endorse state grants to people who wanted to open up businesses that would directly compete with each and every member of the association. How would you vote?

Sound like a “no brainer?” That’s roughly what has been going on with the idea that government should fund election campaigns. The people whose jobs are at stake – members of Congress, state legislators — have done everything they could to prevent potential competitors from getting government support for their campaigns.

Massachusetts is one of the few states that has come close to changing the system, despite broad opposition. After 6,000 volunteers gathered 150,000 signatures in 1997 and 1998 to put an initiative petition of the ballot (thus bypassing the legislature), two-thirds of Massachusetts voters cast their ballot in favor of public financing of campaigns, making Massachusetts the only state in the nation to have a comprehensive “clean elections” system.

But the legislature refused to provide the funds necessary to make the system work. In 2002, several candidates won public financing for their campaigns through the courts. As part of that process, the state Supreme Court told the legislature to fund the law or repeal it. In 2003, the legislature, to its shame, repealed the law.

But the idea is not dead yet.

Mass Voters (www.massvoters.com) is launching another campaign provide public support for candidates’ campaigns. They feel that the situation has changed in the last few years. “Within the Massachusetts Legislature there is a new openness and spirit of change,” as they put it.

So they are organizing another campaign to get clean elections passed. They are now gathering signatures for a non-binding advisory question in several legislative districts, including Cape Cod.

Here is the question that Mass Voters members are working to put on the November 2006 ballot:

“Shall the state [senator/representative] from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would provide public campaign financing for elections to the state Legislature whereby candidates who agree to strict fundraising and spending limits could receive public matching funds, with a cap on the amount of public money available per candidate?”

Will Rogers is usually credited with saying “We have the best Congress money can buy.” Anything we can do to avoid the influence of private funds on public office holders should be worth the money we spend.

Bush takes his lumps at WH Correspondents Dinner

Comedian Stephen Colbert got in some great lines at the annual White House "roast" last week.  Observing that Bush is a man who sticks to his principles he said that "When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday — no matter what happened on Tuesday."

Colbert attacked those in the press who claim that the shae-up at the White House was merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  "This administration is soaring, not sinking.  If anything they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenberg."

Colbert urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings saying they were based on reality and everyone knows that reality has a liberal bias.

Turning to the war, Colbert said that he believes that the government that governs best governs least "…and by that standard we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

One way to get more money for Cape schools.

One definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. State Rep Eric Turkington (D-Falmouth) believes that Cape Codders may be acting crazily when it comes to our continued attempts to get the state to adjust its school funding formula.

Turkington is quoted in the CC Times (4/29) as saying that “Since 1993, we’ve been arguing this fight…I’m starting to think that we’ve got to find another way to direct local aid to our towns than trying to modify this education funding formula. It was designed to be stacked against our towns. It has operated in that fashion for 13 years. It is going to continue that way.”

We agree with Eric. We have heard no argument that is likely to convince a legislator in any district that he should reduce funding in any town he represents so that Sandwich can have additional funding.

We’ve been saying for some time that the only way Cape Cod is going to get more school funding from the state is if everyone gets more school funding. Fortunately, we may be at a moment in state history where a little out-of-the-box thinking could make this happen.

Right now, many people think the state should continue the staged cuts of the income tax to 5%. Many others think that would be fiscally irresponsible. Suppose we do it this way: Instead of reducing the 5.3% income tax rate to 5%, we would take that extra revenue, which could be about $600 million, and send it directly back to the cities and towns, based on the residence of the taxpayer who paid it.

Every taxpayer has an official residence, and every address is in a city or town. The money that comes from a town would go directly back to that town. The state would process the money, and simply return it to the town.

This would produce significant additional revenue for the cities and towns.

We believe that the voters should decide how this revenue would be used. To allow those who paid the taxes to have their say, its disbursement would have to be subject to a vote of the residents of every city and town.

Those who want a tax cut would vote to have their property taxes reduced proportionately. That would reduce taxes in that town or city by the same amount as they would have been reduced by a reduction in the income tax rate.

Other towns might vote to have the money used to increase the school budget, or for some other municipal purpose. In any case, there is no increase in current taxes, just a shift in its allocations.

It’s our money, so let the people speak!