Lawmakers Seek To Reform Presidential Campaign System

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress have introduced bills to overhaul and modernize the U.S. public financing system to elect its presidents.

Reps. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.), Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and David Price (D-NC) announced the introduction of legislation to fix the presidential public financing system. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced companion legislation in the Senate as well.

The legislation would take effect on January 1, 2009 and be effective for presidential elections following the 2008 election, however.

"We are heading into a presidential election in 2008, in which the two major party nominees are expected to decline public financing for their races and to spend $500 million each, or a combined $1 billion, in private contributions for their primary and general election campaigns," says Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign finance advocacy organization. "In order to raise this massive amount of private campaign contributions, big-money fundraisers are bound to play a preeminent role in the presidential campaigns.

The presidential campaign bill increases the amount of matching funds for the presidential primaries from a 1:1 match for up to $250 of an individual's aggregate contributions, to a 4:1 match for up to $200 of an individual's contribution," Wertheimer adds.

The presidential campaign bill increases the spending limit for candidates who choose to participate in the presidential primary public financing system from its current level of approximately $45 million, to $150 million, with a sub-limit of no more than $100 million to be spent by April 1. The bill increases the spending limit for participating general election candidates from its current level of $75 million, to $100 million. The limits are indexed for inflation. The bill repeals the primary state-by-state spending limits.

To qualify for public financing in the primary election, a presidential candidate must raise $25,000 in each of 20 states, in amounts of no more than $200 of each individual's aggregate contribution. This increases the $5,000 per state requirement in current law. A candidate also must commit to accept public financing in both the primary and general election in order to receive public funds for the primary election.

The presidential campaign finance bill moves the starting date for the payment of matching funds to primary candidates from January 1 of the election year to six months before the first primary or caucus is held by a party to select it presidential nominee.

The presidential campaign finance bill provides that if one or more participating candidates in the primary election are running against a non-participating candidate of the same party who raises or spends more than 120 percent of the primary election spending limit, the spending limit for the participating candidates is increased to $150 million during the pre-April 1 period or $200 million for the whole primary period.


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Conservative Leader Praises Democrat Pelosi

An early pioneer of the conservative movement is praising US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, for her leadership on so-called earmark reform.

"Some Republicans, like Trent Lott, apparently still haven't learned anything from the 2006 election returns," says Richard Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause. "But Nancy Pelosi understands that voters are disgusted with pork-barrel spending. She has my thanks and support for extending the ban on earmarks for this entire year."

Earmarks, which Viguerie notes exploded under all-Republican rule, are the term for federal spending which is steered by legislative language to specific projects by lawmakers. Pelosi became the first female U.S. House speaker following elections that handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress for the first time since 1994.

"Let the message from conservatives be loud and clear," Viguerie adds. "We are not slaves to either party. We will support Democrats and Republicans alike when they do the right thing, and we will oppose Democrats and Republicans alike when they do the wrong thing. Our loyalty is to the taxpayers and to sound fiscal policies."

Viguerie pioneered ideological andpolitical direct mail and has been called "the funding father of theconservative movement" for his role in helping build dozens of conservative organizations. Viguerie was cited in the Washington Times in 1999 as one of13 "Conservatives of the Century." The founding of his company was listed by the late John F. Kennedy Jr.'s magazine, George, as one of the 100 "defining moments" in 20th Century American politics.

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