Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has asked the legislature to amend the state’s public funding law so that it does not discriminate for or against any candidate on the basis of the candidate’s partisan affiliation. See this story. Thanks to Joshua Van Vranken for the link.

On August 27, 2009, a U.S. District Court had invalidated the law because it massively favors Democrats and Republicans over independent candidates, in the matter of qualifying for public funding. The law requires all candidates, whatever their partisan affiliation, to qualify by receiving $5 contributions from an equal number of contributors. But, independent candidates would also need a petition of 20% of the last vote cast to receive equal public funding with Democrats and Republicans. For a statewide office in 2010, an independent would need 224,694 valid signatures. No candidate petition for ballot access in any state, in U.S. history, has ever been overcome if it required more than 134,781 signatures. The printed December 1, 2009 Ballot Access News has a chart that shows the highest candidate petition ever overcome in each of the 50 states. It is absurd for Connecticut, a relatively small state, to expect any candidate to submit 224,694 valid signatures for any purpose.