New Campaign Will Spend up to $15 Million to Push Public Financing of Elections

[Donnachaidh]

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/07/09/new-campaign-will-spend-up-to-15-million-to-push-public-financing-of-elections/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignSilo+%28Jane+Hamsher+Campaign+Silo%29#

Common Cause and Public Campaign have launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to push for the adoption of voluntary public financing of federal elections. Their goal is to spur Congress to pass the Fair Elections Now Act. From Huffington Post:

Common Cause and Public Campaign, two organizations known for exposing the murkier influences on legislative and electoral processes, are staking $8 million to try and burnish Congress with the willpower to pass the Fair Elections Now Act. And they’re willing to spend as much as $15 million on their campaign-season gambit.

“We’ll draw it out until we win,” said David Donnelly, the campaign manager for the Campaign for Fair Elections. “We will continue the advertising, continue the grassroots organizing, continue the targeting and creative action.”

The bill would provide public campaign money to candidates who proved they had a broad base of support by raising a set threshold of small-dollar donations. The program would be completely voluntary but would at least give candidates a way to run a viable campaign without needing to beg rich donors and powerful corporations for money.

The corrupting influence of big-money donations on our politicians is one of the biggest problems with our country. It is effectively a form of legalized bribery, and the result is felt well outside issues related to good government. Why do we pay nearly twice as much as the rest of the world for health care? Why can’t Congress approve the highly popular deficit-reducing policy or drug re-importation? Why can’t we deal properly with the concept of “too big to fail”? The answer almost always tracks back to the fact that those reforms would hurt corporations with deep pockets. Corporations that are prepared to spend huge amounts on political campaigns.

More at the link ---

[Poboy]

1. I have no idea why this hasn't gotten more rec's,

nor replies. To my mind, this is just about the ONLY chance we have left in getting representitive government.
This should have 100's of rec's., imo.

Why aren't dems pushing for this? This is an answer to a multitude of problems.

[cascadiance]

2. I see some corporate infiltrators are already unrec'ing this!

JERKS!

[Qutzupalotl]

3. I think that's a bug in the DU system.

Some posts seem to be "off" by two recs when you open them. Then you vote and check the Greatest page, and sure enough, it's changed to reflect your vote, but still is different from when you open the post. I see this a lot with the newer posts in the top left column of the Greatest page. It's weird.

Not that there aren't infiltrators and DUers who regularly unrec what they don't want people to see; I have no doubt that there are. But a lot of what appears to be frantic unreccing is actually this bug in the DU system.

[cascadiance]

4. When there's different totals that's usually a sign of unrecs happening to the post...

Have seen it happen many times before.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. I thought so at first, too.

Then I realized the two different totals were moving parallel with my vote, just off by two. Try it.