Connecticut's Citizens Election Program, the state's public campaign financing system established in 2005 under then-Gov. Jodi Rell, has produced limited increases in legislative diversity but has not made state politics more competitive or reduced special-interest influence, according to a column by longtime Connecticut political writer Chris Powell.
Connecticut's public campaign finance program has not increased political competition, columnist argues
Connecticut's Citizens Election Program, the state's public campaign financing system established in 2005 under then-Gov. Jodi Rell, has produced limited increases in legislative diversity but has not made state politics more competitive or reduced special-interest influence, according to a column by longtime Connecticut political writer Chris Powell.
The program allows candidates for state office who restrict themselves to small donations and raise a threshold amount to qualify for grants of campaign money from state government. Its stated aims were to encourage candidates of ordinary means to seek office, reduce dependence on special-interest money, and increase diversity among elected officials, who had come disproportionately from the ranks of lawyers, bankers, business executives, and retired people.
Powell argues the program has not delivered on its broader aims. He notes that Rell, who left office in January 2011, was Connecticut's last Republican governor, and that since the program's launch Democrats have controlled the governor's office and both chambers of the General Assembly, with one exception: in 2017-18 the Senate was evenly divided at 18 seats per party. Under that arrangement the two parties agreed to share Senate patronage, while the lieutenant governor, a Democrat, held tie-breaking authority as presiding officer.
Powell contends that state employee union support undermines the program's small-d democratic intent, arguing that union members donate personal time to work in Democratic campaigns and that state employees receive discretionary paid time off that, when used for campaign work, constitutes what he calls a hidden and one-sided form of government campaign financing.
The column also addresses the June 10 death of 3-year-old Akari Cortes, who was struck and killed by a car while crossing a street unaccompanied just before dawn. Powell wrote that a previous column had complained that the state Department of Children and Families and the Manchester Police Department had offered no public account of their investigation.
- The source does not state the specific grant amounts available to qualifying candidates under the Citizens Election Program.
- The source does not cite data or a study quantifying the degree to which legislative diversity has increased since 2005.
- The source does not include a response from Connecticut Democratic Party officials, state employee unions, or Republican Party officials to the claims made.
- The source does not state what investigation, if any, the Manchester Police Department has conducted into the death of Akari Cortes, or whether charges have been filed against the parents.
- The source does not state the total cost of the Citizens Election Program to state government since its inception.
- The source does not identify the specific 'excesses' in state employment that Powell references.
Read the original at CT Examiner