CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

I strongly support setting mandatory spending limits to rein in our increasingly out-of-control political campaigns. The price tag of the current Presidential campaign is a good indicator that the campaign spending spree has gone from ridiculous to insane! The amount of money that candidates and campaigns have wasted on political bickering and partisan slander is disgraceful and disheartening. We could have supported hundreds of social service programs and saved thousands of lives with that money.

We need serious campaign reform, but public funding is not the best solution. I propose, for all federally elected offices, a ˇ§hard capˇ¨ on total campaign fundraising and spending, and a drastically reduced maximum for individual contributions. For example, a Congressional candidate might be limited to $50 individual contributions up to a total hard cap of $100,000. Thus, the candidate will raise $50 each from 2,000 people, rather than over $2,000 each from just 50 influential contributors. This way, we can greatly reduce the amount of time and resources wasted on campaign fundraising, encourage cleaner campaigns, and free our elected officials from their debts to high contributors.