The Blogster thinks the world of GOP State Chairman Chris Healy and very much appreciated his star turn before the Government Administration & Elections Committee, which is trying ever…so…slowly, to fix some of the more-obvious shortcomings in the state’s campaign-finance reforms of 2005 that were thrown out by a federal judget last August.
It was probably Healy’s assessment of the public financing as “taxpayer-subsidized fraud” that prompted committee Co-chairman Rep. James Spallone, D-Essex, to engaged the GOP chairman this morning in some existential politics. Healy called the landmark 2005 law “unfixable” and noted “as much as I hate the admit it” that he supports the ACLU’s opposition to the law as well.
The Citizen’s Election Program, funded by unclaimed property in the state treasurer’s office, could be thrown out in the appeal pending before the Second Circuit and there’s a need to have something in place because there would be only seven days to act before the old campaign-finance system would resume. So what have lawmakers been doing since August? Not much because the House and Senate can’t agree on a compromise.
The truth is, the 2005 law put huge obstacles in front of independent and minor party candidates for the General Assembly and statewide offices including attorney general and governor. And outright bans on political contributions from lobbyists is clearly infringing on first amendment rights of free speech. The Blogster believes that an appropriate fix would be to limit lobbyists and contractors to $100 per candidate, period, like everyone else.
