Connecticut’s Democratic Legislative Leaders call for suspending elections to save money…
Well, their proposal is pretty damn close to that…
Earlier this week, the Democratic leaders of the Connecticut General Assembly proposed suspending Connecticut’s public financing system, thereby allowing legislators to transfer about $11 million toward the $254 million budget deficit in this year’s state budget.
Their plan would roll back the campaign finance system that Connecticut adopted after former Governor John Rowland resigned in disgrace and was sent to prison.
Instead of keeping Connecticut’s Clean Election Program in place, Democratic leaders would return the state to the “wild-west” campaign fundraising system that favored incumbents and ensured that campaigns for the legislature were primarily financed by political action committees, lobbyists and those who benefit financially from state contracts.
Without consulting the members of the Senate or House Democratic Caucuses, the plan to suspend Connecticut’s campaign finance system was announced by Democratic Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, Democratic Speaker of the House Brendon Sharkey and Democratic House Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz.
The 2006 campaign cycle was the last time Connecticut incumbents enjoyed the full pay-to-play campaign finance game that ensured that most campaign donations went to incumbents and that those funds came from state contractors, lobbyist and political actions committees.
In fact, the old “incumbent protection” system was working so well that neither Senator Martin Looney nor Representative Brendon Sharkey even had opponents, while Senator Bob Duff and Representative Joe Aresimowicz were able to easily raise far more campaign money than their challenges.
Although Senator Looney didn’t even have an that year, he raised more than $43,000 for his campaign, nearly 60 percent coming from PACS and a large percentage of his individual contributions from lobbyists and state contractors.
Senator Duff raised over $100,000 in 2006, with well over 60 percent coming from PACS, Lobbyists and state contractors, while Representative Aresimowicz collected over $40,000 with more than 70 percent coming from PACS, lobbyists and state contractors.
The leadership proposal designed to return Connecticut campaign finance system and Connecticut's Democratic Legislative Leaders call for suspending elections to save money... - Wait What?:
