Repeated cases of corruption in elected officials frequently inspire calls by other elected officials and their supporters for the public funding of campaigns. But will the concept actually work?
The answer, essentially, is no. Non-establishment candidates who run for office without the assistance of party bosses have to comply with a hornet’s nest of regulations and paperwork, and not filling it out to the satisfaction of the major party bureaucrats who generally staff campaign finance offices can result in heavy-duty fines or the rejection of matching funds. The process is a gift to the professional politicians and party bosses who have the time and money to truly master this procedure, and the connections to insure they get the funds on a timely basis.
Research recently published by the State Policy Network (SPN) indicates that “legislators from both parties still agree on at least one issue: preserving their incumbency is paramount. In their zeal to ensure re-election, lawmakers across the country are considering proposed campaign finance laws that can sweep 501(c)(3) groups into burdensome donor disclosure regimes. While new candidates and challengers campaign to win the war of ideas and the election, those in power increasingly seek to use their lawmaking powers to protect their perch by passing onerous campaign finance laws.
According to the Institute for Justice, The only statistical study to examine the effect of state public funding laws on perceptions of government found that public funding has, in some cases, a small negative effect.
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Research perfomed by Matt Nese and published by The State Policy Network reveals “…taxpayer-funded campaigns have been willfully exploited and manipulated by candidates seeking to abuse public funds for personal gain. Contrary to the claims of advocates, CCP’s research in Arizona and Maine has shown that taxpayer-funded elections do not reduce lobbyist influence, do not produce more occupationally diverse legislatures, do not increase the percentage of women in legislatures, and do not reduce government spending. Additional research by CCP has demonstrated that taxpayer-financed campaign systems do not increase voter turnout either, contrary to proponents’ frequent claims. In addition, CCP studied the voting patterns of legislators who served in the Connecticut General Assembly in the 2007-08 and 2009-10 legislative sessions, and accepted taxpayer dollars for their re-election campaigns through the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP). Analysis of legislator voting records revealed that the CEP failed to change the frequency with which participating legislators voted in favor of the positions of organized interest groups.
A CATO study conducted in the 1990’s prophetically stated “Almost all current reform proposals, at the state and federal levels alike, would similarly aid incumbents. Resources will never by truly equal, given the many advantages inherent to incumbents. Yet limiting electoral activism by individuals and groups would make it even more difficult for challengers to beat the odds. Political careerism is already a greater danger than is influence-peddling. “Reform” would make the system more rather than less corrupt. Ultimately, the only true campaign reform is to shrink government…In the meantime, Congress and the states should deregulate elections. Allow any contribution of any amount, so long as it’s fully disclosed. Then voters, after judging candidates’ fund-raising practices as well as policy positions, could make the final decision.”
The bad idea of regulating campaigns will keep rearing its ugly head nationwide until the voters realize that it’s just another scheme by professional politicians to keep their jobs, whether they deserve to or not.