Veteran Rep. Chris Caruso, D-Bridgeport, still smarting from that 4.5-hour wait during a public hearing last week, called a news conference today criticisng the lack of legislation to fix the state’s 2005 campaign-finance law that was rejected in part last August in federal court. There’s a pending federal appeal, but the jaded Caruso warns that while Senate members inserted the original flawed section putting unreasonable obstacles before minor party and petitioning candidates, there now appears to be lingering opposition in the upper chamber to fix the law.
“If we can’t do something in two months, we ain’t going to do it in seven days,” Caruso warned. “So what you’ll see if the program will come crashing down, we’ll go back to the old system of bundling of money by lobbyists for their clients to particular legislators. We’ll see the old ad book come back in where corporations can give $250. We’ll see the leadership PACS with no limitations placed on them whatsoever. That’s what we don’t want to see.”
