Campaign finance reform bill advances

CIRA de CASTILLOTGI Staff Writer

LIHU’E — Campaign Finance Reform is fast becoming a major issue on the

national and local political agenda.

In their bids for the presidency,

John McCain, Bill Bradley and Al Gore have all made campaign finance reform a

key part of their platform.

In Hawai’i the Legislature is considering

several bills related to campaign finance reform.

“Hopefully, our

politicians will listen to the people, and enact some reforms this year,” says

Will Best, director of the Hawai’i Election Project, a coalition of local

public interest groups that is leading the lobby for campaign finance reform in

Hawai’i.

A bill related to a Clean Money Election program was unanimously

approved Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee. The bill (HB1879) provides

for a pilot program for the 2002 Honolulu City Council race. The program would

give qualifying candidates up to $50,000 in public funds to run their

campaigns.

Participation in the program would voluntary. To qualify,

candidates would have to gather small contributions from one percent of voters

in their district, reject all other private contributions, and spend only the

public funds.

“With public funding, a candidate wouldn’t have to draw on

personal wealth or spend most of their time fundraising,” said Best. Supporters

of the bill believe it will allow more candidates to compete in

elections

The measure now moves to the House Finance Committee.

Recent

national polls indicate at least 60 percent of the voting public believes that

government doesn’t care what people think, and at least 70 percent believe that

government is run by special interests. The study says that fewer and fewer

citizens feel they are truly represented by their public officials.

In a

national survey commissioned by the Center for Responsive Politics, 61 percent

of respondents agreed that “reducing the role of money in politics would lead

to more progress in solving important problems.

Even more agreed that

excessive influence of political contributions on elections and government

policy was a major problem.

In another poll, published in the National

Journal, 70 percent of respondents said that the current campaign finance

system “needs to be completely overhauled” or “needs major changes.”

Best

says that Hawai’i Clean Elections believes that the Clean Money program is the

best option for real reform. Under this system, any candidate who demonstrates

sufficient community support would qualify for a competitive amount of public

funding. In exchange for that, the candidate would agree to strict expenditure

limits and no private financing.

Poll after poll shows overwhelming support

for a Clean Money system says Best.

Over two thirds of people polled favor

public financing of campaigns if it means that candidates will limit their

campaign spending and reject private, special interest money to bankroll their

run for office.

Maine, Arizona, and Massachusetts have already enacted

Clean Money programs by ballot initiative.