Al Franken: If You Ever Wonder Whether We Really Need Public Financing of Elections

[flpoljunkie]

Great fundraising appeal, Al! You even get a "thank you" video with your "thank you" email. And, of course, I am a big fan of public financing of elections, and would also really love to see Al Franken beat Norm "Moonie" Coleman! We need more Democrats in the Senate.

If You Ever Wonder Whether We Really Need Public Financing of Elections in this Country

157 Comments | Posted June 4, 2007 | 12:10 AM (EST)

As a candidate for the U.S. Senate here in Minnesota, I've become painfully aware of the role money plays in politics.

For instance, according to my staff, I'm not supposed to write anything without mentioning that our grassroots campaign needs the support of great progressives like YOU and asking you to click here and chip in a few bucks so I can take on the Republican attack machine.

See? That kind of thing totally distracts the reader from my point, which is this: If you ever wonder whether we really need public financing of elections in this country, try running for office. You might think I spend most of my time kissing babies or shaking hands or having serious policy debates in which my sparkling wit and superior knowledge of the issues combine to sweep audiences off their feet.

But no. I spend most of my time doing this.



That's me during "call time," which is basically what candidates for public office do all day. The guy on the right is Kris, my call time manager. It's his job to sit with me for hours at a time and make sure I'm "making the ask" on every call. For instance, he's currently pacing behind me reminding me to make another "ask" in here. Here it is, Kris: please click here and give me money. Okay?

While I'm sitting there with Kris, I often think about how badly we need public financing of elections in this country. We need it because I should be out talking to Minnesotans about the issues that matter to their families. We need it so that I can spend my days meeting with policy experts and reading up on legislation and working with progressives all over the state to build a movement that can take on Norm Coleman next fall.

And we need it because members of Congress are too beholden to special interests, and that costs taxpayers, big time. The Medicare Part D prescription drug bill, which might be the most corrupt piece of legislation in history, was a huge giveaway of taxpayer funds to the big pharmaceutical companies. The 2005 energy bill handed billions of dollars of our money to big oil companies, essentially just for the hell of it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/if-you-ever-wonder-whethe_b_50344.html?view=print

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[polichick]

1. Love Franken!

How frustrating it must be to run for all the right reasons, just to end up spending most of your time begging for money. :crazy:

[flpoljunkie]

2. Am with you! It must be incredibly frustrating to beg for money to run a campaign.

[Auntie Bush]

3. Al is 100% correct!

We desperately need public financing but the Rethugs would never hear of it. They can get all the money they want/need from their rich friends. i.e. all those whose just got a tax break plus every single corporation or big business.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

4. Please, please, please Al, kick that

no-good, worthless, scum sucking, reptilian, bottom feeder, opportunistic, two-faced coleman all of MN.

Please, Please, Please.

Amen.

[dragonlady]

5. Candidate fundraising is a real paradox

The people who would make the best representatives are often the ones who aren't good at fundraising. And the party leaders judge them on that, and sometimes nothing else.

[aquart]

6. Public financing AND a campaign time limit.

NO MORE TWO YEAR CAMPAIGNS!!!!

[flpoljunkie]

7. Yes! Campaigns are too damn long in this country!

[aquart]

8. Endless.

Endless.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Or, so it seems, I love politics, but our system stinks. Long campaigns require big bucks-not good!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

11. I hate these two year campaigns too, but I'm afraid

with the new, squished primaries they're going to get even longer. :shrug:

[Kurovski]

10. K&R. (nt)

[Sanctified]

12. How would Public Financing of Elections work?

What happens if you have like 20 candidates running, do they all get X amount of dollars or do they just split a set amount. Also how do I guarantee that my tax dollars are not going to a candidate that wants to make abortions illegal, is against gay marriage, wants prayer in schools and that kind of shit, it would be pretty shitty to have to fund Fred Phelps election campaign.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

13. I don't think that any specifics have been decided,

but definitely your tax dollars would probably go to someone you can't support. That's free speech.

Also, your tax dollars are probably already going to a bunch of stuff you can't support; the war; dumbya & cheeney's salaries; etc. etc.

And, I think we all already pay for elections. If a major corporation gives away bookoo bucks to be a ranger, the execs just raise the cost of goods or services or whatever to pay for it.

[flpoljunkie]

16. Candidates in states have been required to raise a small amount from a threshold number of voters to

quallify for public financing. You must show broad support across whatever geographical area you aim to represent.

If we finance their campaigns, they would be beholden to us, and not the special interests whose lobbyists are actually serving as fundraisers for their campaigns and who write the bills that benefit the special interests, not the public interests.

The way we do things is no way to run a democracy--the people lose!

[NYCGirl]

14. I miss Al on the radio so much, but I hope he beats Coleman like a rented mule!

:patriot:

[hvn_nbr_2]

15. Whoever "finances" the candidate buys and owns the candidate.

Public financing = public ownership of office holders.

Public officials represent whoever bought them. It's really that simple.

If you don't support the idea of public financing of elections, then you absolutely do support the idea of private ownership of "public" servants.

[MethuenProgressive]

17. Kick!

:kick:

[mzmolly]

18. He's brilliant. I look forward to helping out with his campaign.

:toast: