Press Releases

Both testify before Congressional committee in favor of proposal to create a national public finance system similar to Maine’s Clean Elections

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree told a Congressional committee this morning that Maine’s system of public financing of political campaigns can serve as a template for national campaign finance reform.
 
Campaign finance has been a topic in the health care reform debate. A recent Washington Post story showed that the 193 Representatives and Senators sitting on key committees considering health care reform have received, on average, over $1 million in campaign contributions each from health-care related interests. Story is available here
 
Both Pingrees testified in favor of the Fair Elections Now Act, a bill that Congresswoman Pingree has introduced that would create a voluntary system limiting Congressional campaign contributions to $100, emphasize grassroots support and bring campaign finance reform into the 21st Century.
 
Congresswoman Pingree said the current system of campaign contributions makes it harder to make big changes in policy because of the influence of contributions from entrenched special interests.
 
“If everyone here ran on a system of public finance I don’t think we would be struggling this week to pass health care reform,” Pingree said.
 
“It is completely unacceptable to the public. And it changes the way we spend our time,” Pingree said. “Today, we should be spending our time thinking about people who have lost their jobs, lost their health insurance or lost their homes. And not about where the next campaign contribution is going to come from.”
 
Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree said she’s seen the difference that public financing makes in Maine.
 
“Public financing has created a separation between the vast majority of legislators and advocates and lobby groups,” Speaker Pingree said. “Under the Clean Elections system, Maine legislators don’t receive campaign support from lobbyists. This makes it much easier to weigh their arguments on their merits, and without fear of losing support in the next campaign.”
 
Maine has a “Clean Elections” system that allows candidates for the Legislature and Governor to raise small contributions as seed money and then receive public financing to pay for the remainder of their campaign expenses. Clean Elections candidates hold 85% of the seats in the Maine Legislature.Congresswoman Pingree worked on taking the Clean Elections system to other states as President of Common Cause and says states have shown that public financing of campaigns is popular and successful.
 
The Fair Elections Now Act requires candidates to raise a minimum level of small individual contributions to qualify. Once they have qualified, they will have to abide by strict fundraising restrictions and disclosure requirements in return for public funding based on the average costs of winning campaigns in recent elections.  
 
Other Members of Congress voiced support for the bill. Republican Congressman Walter Jones from North Carolina also testified in favor of the bill saying “the system is broken and needs to be fixed…This will create the opportunity for others to run for Congress and challenge me or someone else.”
 
California Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said she had decided to cosponsor the legislation because it represents a “smart approach” to campaign finance. Lofgren said the political and economic crisis her state is currently facing wouldn’t have been as serious if legislative candidates there were not dependent on campaign contributions.
 
Congressman John Larson (D-CT), a co-sponsor of the bill, called the current system “corrosive” and said it leads the public to lose faith in government. He said public finance systems like those that exist in Maine, Connecticut and Arizona allow Members of Congress to spend more time talking to constituents about the issues that are important to them.
 
The legislation has the support of the Fair Elections Now Coalition, which includes the Brennan Center, Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Public Campaign, Public Citizen and US PIRG.