March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Reforming the system

Perhaps it is the presence of three eager millionaires in the Senate race, or simply the popularity of the issue, but candidates have been talking about campaign-finance reform as never before. Voters would do well to press whoever wins the race to fight for this reform in Washington.

There are a batch of campaign-finance reform measures around, all of them seeking to open up the field to challengers and reduce the amount of money required to undertake a campaign. Given that elections have become dauntingly expensive for many candidates and that incumbents more than ever must rely on money from special interests, the reforms are overdue.

Two candidates — Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Jerald Leonard — have made campaign-finance reform a priority in their campaigns. Collins released a detailed plan for reform this week. It includes some essentials: voluntary spending limits, reduced broadcast and postal rates, reduced allowable contributions from political action committees and out-of-state contributions and sanctions for not complying with the limits. Her plan also includes limits to self-financing, a provision no doubt confirmed in her GOP primary race against Bob Monks, who may spend $1 million of largely his own money before the primary is over.

Collins points out that, in Maine, “Generally, you haven’t been able to buy an election.” She correctly notes that this condition may be changing as the stakes are raised for television commercials, mass mailings, polls, consultant fees and all the other significant costs of a campaign. These costs change the nature of a campaign from a contest of issues and character to a race for dollars.

Leonard supports many of the same measures. He has endorsed a proposal sponsored by Sen. John McCain, which sets voluntary limits and requires TV stations to offer free time to candidates who agree to the limits. Leonard is voluntarily living by the rules in this campaign — accepting money only from Maine residents and refusing PAC dollars. Not surprisingly, he is unlikely to reach enough people under the current system to attract a lot of votes. He is, however, to be commended for his willingness to stump for these important reforms.

Congress is awash in money from special interests. Its members depend on it, and their lives are in some part governed by their ability to attract it. The money builds a system beholden to a few interests and excludes the majority. With PAC money, there is no need to read the congressional agenda, just follow the spikes in campaign donations from lobbying groups — last year, it was the tobacco lobby; in 1994, health care interests. Both groups have had dramatic influences on the outcome of legislation.

Maine voters have been given a hopeful sign that so many of their Senate candidates are talking about reforming the system. The key will be to hold whoever wins the election to his or her word after November.


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