From the "Telegraph" with thanks to Jim Tetreault
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Scott Brown should accept Shaheen’s challenge
By DANIEL WEEKS
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Daniel Weeks, the former president of Americans for
Campaign Reform, works on education in low-income communities with City Year
New Hampshire. He walked with the N.H. Rebellion in January.
Welcome to New Hampshire, Sen. Scott Brown.
As you begin your “listening tour” of the Granite State,
you will hear from many of our citizens about jobs, education, health care,
taxes, civil liberties, the environment and more. These issues matter deeply to
our people, and we’ll tell you where we stand.
But we don’t just care about issues in New Hampshire – we
care about process too.
In your travels, you will hear from citizens about
another problem that lies at the root of all our other concerns: The corruption
of American politics by special interest money.
It’s hardly an armchair issue.
This January, inspired by New Hampshire’s own Doris
Haddock, who walked cross country for campaign finance reform at the age of 90,
dozens of citizens of different political persuasions put their bodies on the
line by walking the length of the state through snow and sleet to stop big
money in politics. With more than 6,000 miles collectively under their belt,
and thousands still to come, the New Hampshire Rebellion has officially begun.
Opinion polling confirms what New Hampshire’s walkers
learned along their way: that 96 percent of Americans believe the influence of
money in politics needs to be reduced. Although we have differing opinions on
health care, taxes, and the like, Granite Staters universally agree that
special interest spending in campaigns is an affront to New Hampshire’s
longstanding tradition of representative, accountable government.
If the opinions of ordinary voters aren’t enough,
consider the late Republican senator from New Hampshire, Warren Rudman, who
devoted his latter years to stopping big money as co-chairman of Americans for
Campaign Reform in Concord.
In his final printed piece before his death in 2012, Sen.
Rudman warned that big money was effectively undermining the integrity of
representative government in America. “Members of Congress now report spending
a third of their time or more raising money for their next campaign, most of it
coming from out-of-state interests instead of their own constituents,” Rudman
wrote. “Wealthy contributors, in turn, expect – and too often receive – a
return on their investment in the form of earmarks and legislative favors.”
You have an opportunity to change this status quo, Sen.
Brown. As we were reminded by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen this week, your 2012 campaign
for Senate in Massachusetts featured a “People’s Pledge” between you and
Elizabeth Warren to stem the flood of negative ads by outside Super PACs. By
committing to donate 50 percent of the cost of “independent” ads aired on your
behalf to the charity of your opponent’s choice, you and Warren effectively
ended outside attacks and brought a measure of accountability back into the
campaign.
Of course, a pledge between two candidates will not fix
an entire system of private campaign funding that many New Hampshire voters
agree is rotten at its core. Regardless of the amount of outside spending that
does or does not enter this campaign, candidates on either side are quickly
raising millions of dollars – much of it from out of state – to get their
message out. Too often, as Sen. Rudman observed, the money has strings
attached.
Reducing the influence of special interests once and for
all will require a brand new system of citizen-funded elections based on small
donations from actual constituents capped at $200, and matched with public
funds. To her credit, Sen. Shaheen has long co-sponsored the bipartisan Fair
Elections Now Act in Congress, which would do just that. Former state Sen. Jim
Rubens, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, has also been an avid
supporter of similar reforms in New Hampshire.
Nevertheless, the People’s Pledge is a necessary start.
Close to $2 million in outside attack ads have already been aired in this
campaign, and millions more are sure to follow unless the leading candidates
say no.
As the New Hampshire Rebellion reminds us, big money is
not the New Hampshire way. Out of respect for the citizens of your new home
state, and in the interest of democracy itself, I urge you, Sen. Brown, to sign
the People’s Pledge with Sen. Shaheen today.
Daniel Weeks, the former president of Americans for
Campaign Reform, works on education in low-income communities with City Year
New Hampshire. He walked with the N.H. Rebellion in January.
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