Connecticut financing laws make impact
Advocates hope state successes prove plans work on national level.
Connecticut financing laws make impact

HARTFORD, Conn. — Barack Obama may have abandoned public financing for his presidential campaign, but in Connecticut, legislative candidates are lining up to get campaign cash from the state.

About 70 percent of the Nutmeg State's candidates for General Assembly this year are expected to sign on to a new public financing election program. Not only does it provide hefty grants, it offers extra money to combat opponents who don't participate and a promise of more cash to counter negative ads from third parties.

"Some objected to it originally, but they're happy with it now,” said state Rep. Al Adinolfi, a Republican from Cheshire. "It gives them more time to get involved with the issues, it keeps everybody on a clean playing field.”

National advocates for public financing hope Connecticut's voluntary Citizens' Election Program — along with similar initiatives in Arizona and Maine, and limited programs in Vermont, North Carolina, New Mexico and New Jersey — prove that public financing could also work on the national level for presidential and congressional candidates.

"I think a high participation rate will show what's possible, especially amid the collapse of the federal system,” said Nick Nyhart, co-founder and director of the Public Campaign, a nonprofit group based in Washington that advocates comprehensive campaign finance reform.

First-year participation in the Maine and Arizona programs was about 30 percent, said Andy Sauer, executive director of Connecticut Common Cause, which pushed for the new legislation in hopes of ridding state elections of special interest money.

Last month, Obama reversed his earlier stance and decided to raise millions of dollars on his own, bypassing the federal system that's been in place since the Watergate scandal. President Bush was the first candidate to reject public financing of primaries in 2000, but no previous candidate had ignored the general election funds.

Obama said the system is outdated.

"We face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system,” he told supporters in a video message.

Republican candidate John McCain said his campaign will take public financing. Accusing Obama of going back on a promise, the Arizona senator said he wasn't worried about being outspent in the fall presidential contest.

Nyhart wasn't surprised by Obama's decision.

"We're essentially asking candidates to run a 2008 campaign with a '70s-era public financing system,” he said.

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There's hope that if Connecticut's system is successful members of Congress might eventually adopt a similar program to fund their campaigns.

"I think that what I've seen so far in Connecticut is impressive. Some other states are doing some funding as well. We'll look at all of them,” said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., an advocate of campaign finance reform.

Rocked by public corruption scandals in recent years, Connecticut passed a law in 2005 that created a voluntary system in which legislative and statewide candidates receive public funds to run their campaigns so long as they agree to strict rules about spending and fundraising.

They must collect a specific number of small contributions — $5 to $100 — from individuals, including many living in their districts, to qualify for the program. Contributors cannot be lobbyists, or current or prospective state contractors, or their family members.

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