When it comes to fixing the state’s Citizens’ Election program, state Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport, and Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, are asking their colleagues to act quickly.
The pair want leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate to call for an emergency-certified bill the next time the two chambers meet — or before. The purpose would be to fix parts of the state’s landmark campaign finance reform law, which was passed in 2005.
A judge for the U.S. 2nd Court of Appeals has ruled that the law’s voluntary public financing system would put minor-party candidates at a disadvantage against better-financed major-party candidates. The state appealed that decision and is waiting for a response.
Caruso and Holder-Winfield maintain that swift action is necessary because of a provision in the current law that only allows the legislature seven days to act once a court decision is made. If no action is taken, the state would revert back to old campaign finance laws that allowed lobbyists and state contractors to give money to political campaigns. The citizens’ election program would be eliminated.
They should at minimum change the reversion clause, Caruso said at a press conference Tuesday.
Lawmakers are considering two bills that would make changes to the reform law. Both bills would lower the grant amount received by candidates running for office. One of the bills would eliminate the qualification requirements for minor-party candidates, while the other would lower those qualification thresholds. The government administration and elections committee held a public hearing on the bills last week.
Between the two bills, there is a way to fix the law, Caruso said, adding that he believes that state residents want public financing. But instead of trying to preserve and improve a good program, Caruso said lawmakers are moving slow.
“Here we sit like birds in the wilderness waiting for the legislature to act,” Caruso said, modifying a line used during his summer camp days.
Caruso and Holder-Winfield say the legislature lawmakers who were opposed to campaign finance reform a few years ago are still trying to stall the process now. They fear that moving slowly will jeopardize the citizens’ election program.
“If we can’t do something in two days, we aren’t going to something in seven days,” Caruso said.
Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, co-chairwoman of the government administration and election committee, says her committee is currently drafting a bill to address the concerns with the citizens’ election fund, and she said Caruso, a former chairman of the committee, is out of touch with the issue now that he is not even a committee member.
The news of the day is not that the committee is working on a bill, but rather that the governor, who supports the program, is proposing to take $12 million from the fund for deficit mitigation, Slossberg said. Taking that money away from the citizens’ election fund would cripple public financing, she said, noting that the fund needs between $38 and $48 million to work.