A Non-Partisan Look at Campaign Reform

 As a student of the American political system over the last forty-five years, and as a behind-the-scenes elections official, I have seen the dissolution of the integrity of the people who choose to run for office. It seems to me that if we want better choices, and a more true democracy, an eyes-wide look at the way we elect our officials must be done first.

Everyone who pays even the slightest attention knows there’s too much money involved in the elections of our officials. It costs thousands of dollars just to run for sheriff in a small county. I know personally of a judge whose campaign cost him $157,000 in a county of about 35,000 voters. 

The yard signs, the push cards, the television ad (especially the television ads), the radio ads, the block-walkers and call centers – all of these things cost a lot of money. And studies have shown that the more name familiarity a candidate has the more likely they will win their election. Therefore it is imperative that a candidate raises enough money to pay for the necessary name recognition. Here is where the donor comes into the picture.  If it’s a big donor, and that donor has an agenda that will gain him favor -- say , a road contractor who wants first bid to re-construct the old bridge leading into town -- it’s possible that big donation he makes to a county commissioner’s campaign might give him an advantage.

Now, take that local example, and enlarge it,  in the case of candidates running for federal offices, by a hundred times, and you begin to understand the stakes that are at play when a big donor contributes to the campaign of a candidate for U.S. Senator. Herein lies the primary reason why the little guy – that’s you and me – doesn’t believe that those people we elect are working for us. Because, frankly, they aren’t. They go into office beholden from the outset to their big donors.

The honest politician (yes, I know, the word has become an oxymoron) probably arrives in Washington, D.C. with grand ideas about how he is going to help his constituents, or how he’s going to shake-up the system. But it might have cost him millions to get elected, and those billionaire-donors are going to expect to have some kind of return on their funding dollars. So naturally they start to call in their favors: Easing of regulations, tax credits for their business interest, loosening of trade laws, and on and on. And to make matters worse, a junior senator or representative is expected to continue to raise money after they’re in office, with up to 30 hours a week of time logged calling on rich donors for contributions to the new office holder’s party.  They actually have log-sheets they must keep.

This is the system that is killing our Democracy. It’s the reason there’s gridlock in Congress. It’s the reason your government isn’t working for you. Unless, of course, you happen to be a billionaire, or own a huge money making corporation. If you think I’m making this up, just think about it the next time you want to find a new Internet provider and realize that your list of possible choices has shrunk, or when you write that ever-increasing check to your health insurance provider, or pay all those unexplainable add-ons to your phone bill.

Politicians are not going to change this system. It’s what got them elected. Overturning the inequitable Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court won’t solve it. Revamping the Dodd-Frank Campaign Finance Reform bill won’t solve the problem either. It’s really not about so-called “dark money” or “corporate rights.” What’s the matter is the way we elect our officials, and this needs a complete overhaul.

Here are six of my ideas for ways to truly reform our election process:

1.                    – Make it illegal to lobby lawmakers. Yes, illegal. Do away completely with the lobby groups and a lot of the problem will end right there. I once read that the pharmacy lobby, Pharmco, hires 26 lobbyists for each member of Congress. No wonder we pay more for prescription drugs than any other country in the world.

2.                    – Make it law that campaigns for any political office can last no more than 90 days. The endless campaigns that we now have cost billions of dollars. If a candidate cannot get their message out in 90 days, two more years isn’t going to help them. All this extensive campaigning does is make the voter tune out. Ninety days is long enough for all of us. Most of us had made our choice in the current political election within three months. So let’s put a cap on it at 90 days.

3.                    – Require the TV networks and cable news channels to conduct, free of charge, three Town Hall style meetings of candidates, loosely moderated, with questions coming uncensored from the audience. This would eliminate the expensive television ads that are mostly negative and also make the voter weary of the whole process. As a side note: a 20 second ad on a national network during Prime Time can cost as much as 3-million dollars. No wonder election costs are climbing into the billions during every election season.

4.                    – Require all taxpayers to contribute one dollar of their tax bill to a central fund distributed equally among the candidates to pay for their signage, their headquarters, phone banks, et cetera. Make it illegal for any outside money to be used for campaign costs.

5.                    – Make election laws universal throughout the United States, so that every state, and every county within a state, votes and conducts their elections according to a uniform Federal Election Standard.

6.                    – Make voter registration mandatory at age 18, the same way that registering for the Draft used to be mandatory for young men on their 18^th birthday.

These kinds of changes don’t come from Washington. If you live long enough, you realize not much ever comes from the top down. Change happens when there’s a groundswell from people who have finally had enough. We need to be informed and vocal, but most of all, we need to understand what’s at the core of the problems with our government.

Onward….