The Atlantic - More Campaign Spending from More People
News Article
By Lee Drutman
In the five years since the Citizens United decision, the campaign-finance reform movement has worked its way through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and now, finally, acceptance.
This emerging state of acceptance is making room for some new approaches: What if America stops focusing on containment, and starts focusing on empowerment? What if America stops focusing on limits, and starts focusing on opportunities?
Representative John Sarbanes, a Democrat from Maryland, has been grappling with these questions. His idea: Pass a bill that will solve two related problems--voter cynicism and the influence of special interest money--with one set of reforms. First, give every citizen a $25 "My Voice" tax credit (if you contribute $25 to a campaign, you get $25 off your tax bill). Next, create a 6-to-1 "Freedom from Influence" matching fund (for every $1 you spend, the government kicks in $6 in public funding). Then watch political fundraising change for the better.
Right now, Sarbanes explained at a recent event at New America Foundation alongside new Federal Election Commission chair Anne Ravel, members of Congress are feeling the pressure to raise tons of money, and they know where they can raise it: from lobbyists on K Street. They know if they go to a lobbyist-hosted fundraiser, they can pull in $10,000--enough to make it worth their time. But try raising that kind of money in an in-district house party. You can't, at least under the current rules.
But, Sarbanes argues, if Congress passes H.R. 20, the Government By the People Act, that calculus changes. If a constituent can get 30 friends to each pledge $50, that's $1,500. Then, with the 6-to-1 multiplier, that's another $9,000, bringing the total up to $10,500. Plus, those K Street fundraisers don't pay off in the same kinds of bonuses as house parties can. As Sarbanes explains, "If you do a K Street fundraiser, nobody goes and knocks on doors for you, and most of them probably can't even vote for you. But if you do a house party, people can vote for you, and they can lick envelopes. So you're matching up the organizing imperative with fundraising."
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