Reply #32: They opposed the loophole in the law [View All]

[Nicholas_J]

that allowed Dean to get away with opting out after he opted in, not the law itself.

Governor Howard Dean Pulls the Plug on Democracy
Governor Howard Dean has proposed to permanently gut Vermont's campaign finance reform law eliminating our landmark public financing option for governor and lieutenant governor. VPIRG opposes removing any money from the Fund because it sets a dangerous precedent for undermining democracy in Vermont and limits the legislature's options to strengthen the law in the future.

The Governor's move will simply open another door for access by corporations and other wealthy donors seeking generous tax breaks, permission to pollute our air and water, boondoggle electric rate contracts and other special interest perks. As Lieutenant Governor Doug Racine said at a public forum on December 11th "I do believe money is corrupting the political process."

The Campaign Finance Fund was created by the state Legislature in 1997 to allow ordinary Vermonters, those without personal fortunes or wealthy connections, to run credible campaigns for office without becoming indebted to large donors or special interest lobbyists. Specifically, the law allows qualified candidates, regardless of political party affiliation, to run for governor or lieutenant governor using only clean, public dollars. The funding comes from voluntary contributions and corporate fees. There is no cost to Vermont taxpayers.

Opponents of campaign finance reform falsely say that Vermont's public financing system does not work because there are no limits on how much a candidate can spend to run for office. VPIRG supports two simple measures to fix the campaign finance reform law: closing the loophole allowing unlimited donations by a political party to a candidate and creating a matching fund system similar to the one in place in Maine.


http://www.vpirg.org/campaigns/financeReform/deangutcfr.html


Or how about:


In Vermont, Governor Howard Dean is attempting to de-fund Vermont’s clean money bill by siphoning off money set aside for public financing to other parts of his budget. Governor Dean has always claimed to support public financing. But in this coming election year, public financing might hurt the Democratic Party. So he’s trying to gut it.

To be sure, Vermont Democrats do have a dilemma or, perhaps, had a dilemma. Republican Cornelius Hogan’s surprise decision on Wednesday to run for Governor as an Independent may have totally recast Vermont’s race for Governor.

The Democratic problem begins with Progressive Anthony Pollina who may make another run for Governor. Running in the last election with public financing, Pollina got almost 10% of the vote and almost sent the governor’s race into the legislature. Many of Pollina’s supporters, fearing the election of right-wing Republican Ruth Dwyer and admiring Governor Dean’s courageous stand on civil unions, abandoned Anthony. In the coming election, fear is not a factor. The Republican candidate James Douglas is a Jim Jeffords-like moderate. So is Con Hogan. Vermonters can vote their consciences without the dread of unintended consequences.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0215-02.htm

Or:

But Markowitz's proposal quickly ran into criticism from people who saw it as a partisan strategy to help Democrats in the next election.

"I'm surprised at the lengths she and others are willing to go to to keep me and other Progressives out of the race for governor," Anthony Pollina said after he heard about Markowitz's proposal.

Pollina, the Progressive Party candidate, was the only participant in last year's governor's race to use public funding. He had $300,000 to spend.

Meanwhile, the two major party candidates, Democratic Gov. Howard Dean and Republican Ruth Dwyer, each raised close to $1 million.

In the end, Pollina didn't hurt Dean as much as some Democrats had feared. But in another three-way race, Pollina is more likely to pull votes from the Democratic candidate than the Republican.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/legislature/mar26/markowitz.html

But finally:

He also led the statewide effort that resulted in the Vermont Legislature passing the nation's most comprehensive campaign finance reforms. His work led Governor Howard Dean, when signing the law, to refer to Pollina as "Mr. Campaign Finance Reform."


http://www.ourcampaigns.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi/CandidateDetail.html?&CandidateID=131

Even Dean refers to Pollina as spearheading the campaign finace reform that Dean later gutted to prevent his opposents from benefiting.


Polling opposed the loopholes in the law that kept Dean able to use dirty money

Yes to democracy
August 11, 2000

(from the Editorials section)

Even so, the ruling set aside an additional restriction on out-of-state contributions because that restriction was not founded on a concern about corruption, which is the constitutionally permitted purpose for limiting contributions. Rather, the out-of-state limit was a sort of misguided chauvinism, seeking to isolate Vermont from the larger political world.

Voluntary spending limits like those accepted by Anthony Pollina, the Progressive candidate for governor, and Gov. Howard Dean are still legal. Pollina and Dean now must consider whether to continue to campaign within those limits.

By accepting campaign funds from the state, Dean and Pollina are freed from the need to raise their own campaign money. But neither of the two Republican candidates has accepted state money, and they are not bound by the voluntary spending limits that come with state funds. Dean and Pollina will have to consider the possibility that the likely Republican candidate, Ruth Dwyer, could outspend them in a big way.

It may happen, however, that contribution limits serve as a backdoor limit on spending. If candidates can accept money only in relatively small amounts, they may end up with less money to spend.

http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/Archive/Articles/Article/11261

Pollina opposed the loophole that allowed out of sttem money to be unlimited.

In the last campaign in which Dena first took money and THEN opted out, 65 percent of his campaign financing came from OUTSIDE OF VERMONT.


In June 1997, Vermont passed one of the most comprehensive campaign finance reform laws in the country, and the signing of the "Clean Elections" bill was a generally festive occasion. Democratic Governor Howard Dean was on hand for congratulations and photos with the bill's main architect, Anthony Pollina, whom he enthusiastically dubbed "Mr. Campaign Finance Reform." Little did Dean know that he might become the law's first casualty.

This year the Vermont governor's race will be decided for the first time on a financially level playing field, and the state Progressive Party, which has selected none other than Anthony Pollina as its candidate, is mounting a serious blitz on Dean. With nearly twenty years of grassroots organizing in the state, Pollina is a familiar face in Vermont politics. In Vermont's 1984 congressional race, Pollina ran as a Rainbow Coalition candidate and won the Democratic primary. He lost the election but garnered 20 percent of the vote. "He's experienced and very well respected." remarked April Jin, longtime Vergennes Democratic Party Chairman who recently resigned her post to join the Progressive Party. "There's no doubt he can pull over a good number of liberal Democrats."

The campaign now has the money, $265,000 in fact. Aside from prying open the political spectrum to underfunded outsider candidates, Vermont's clean elections law is taking politics from the hands of big donors and returning it to its proper place among voters. "It's great. All of the sudden, office seekers actually have to campaign to win. They have to talk and listen to real people rather than just fund raise." remarked Garrison Nelson, a University of Vermont political science professor. "I think Dean had some serious learning to do." Clearly, Dean is a quick study, since he too qualified for the public funds. But in the process it forced him to reform his constituency from that of his 1998 campaign in which he received 1200 total contributions and 51 percent of his money out of state. No longer could he rely on fat checks, like those that he previously pulled in from health care interests totaling $44,000. Where airing statewide TV commercials used to suffice, the geographic distribution and small individual contribution requirements of the new law now required more canvassing and actual small-venue speeches. "Sure it was difficult," Governor Dean told me of meeting the qualifying standard. "It was also the right thing to do."

But doing the right thing just got risky and Dean is now forging a different path. In August, federal judge William Sessions III ruled against parts of Vermont's clean elections law, including limits on spending and out-of-state contributions. The case is being appealed but in the meantime those candidates who do not take public funding are free to raise and spend without restriction. Stating his regret, Dean announced that he would be returning the public money to raise private funds because he feared getting out-spent by his Republican contenders. "I am not going to fight this campaign with one arm tied behind my back," he remarked from his Montpelier campaign office.



http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/3626

In the end, Dean killed the legislation, and then took the money from the fund in order to try to balance the budget (2 million of the ten million dollar suplus came from gutting the fund)

Yet the decision of Federal Court Justice Session DID NOT make the Vermont Clean Money law unconsitutional. It simply stated that money from outside of Vemront could not be subject to the same limits that money inside Vermont would be subject to.

It states that politicians can still limit their campign funds and accept public funding. N0 thing changed...But Dean.