On December 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 3463, which ends public funding for presidential candidates. The House had passed another bill to do the same thing back on January 25, 2011. That bill was HB 359. Neither bill is expected to pass the Senate. See this story. HB 3463 also eliminates the federal agency that helps states with vote-counting machine technology, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
How many folks do NOT want ANY public tax money being used by the robot party hack candidates to pay for their TV attack ads, etc. ???
My proposal:
1) Presidential, Senate and Congressional campaign committees may accept contributions ONLY from individuals whose legal residence at the time of the contribution would allow them to vote for the candidate in the general election. Thus, no PAC contributions, no Congressional and Senatorial Committee contributions, no union contributions, and no transfers of funds from one campaign to another.
2) Individuals may contribute up to $X to any one campaign committee. If we implement (1) above I’d be OK with $X being a very, very large number. Perhaps as high as a quarter million dollars. So, in an election year with the right timing, a rich contributor can spend up to $750,000 exercising his or her “free” speech on campaigns for federal office.
3) The candidate himself or herself can contribute personal funds to the campaign, but by no more than the amount specified in (2) above.
4) It will be illegal to make a loan of any kind to a political campaign. No more bankrupt campaigns.
5) At the end of the campaign, any surplus balance in the committee’s account will be surrendered to the US Treasury.
6) And yes, #1…entirely eliminate public financing of campaigns.
Fire away!
How many folks do NOT want ANY public tax money being used by the robot party hack candidates this is excellent.
I do not want ANY of my tax money going to campaigns.