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Fall legislative races:
Higher stakes, new rules for business
History happening now: public funding of campaigns
The upcoming state elections will be historic: For the first time, some campaigns will be publicly, not privately, financed.
The new campaign finance law created a Citizens’ Election Fund, through which state dollars will be given to candidates to run their campaigns if they agree to abide by certain rules. (Money for the fund is coming mostly from unclaimed property, such as insurance policies that were never cashed in, not from taxpayer dollars.) To qualify for $25,000 in public funding, a major-party candidate for the state House of Representatives has to raise $5,000 in small individual contributions from within the town(s) he or she represents. A Senate candidate must raise $15,000 to be eligible for $85,000 in funding. (The higher amounts reflect the larger size of Senate districts.) “There are all kinds of permutations for minor-party candidates and petitioning candidates,” says Brennan.
Once a candidate accepts public funding, he or she can no longer accept any private contributions.
“So far, most candidates seem to be opting for public financing,” Brennan notes.
Lisa McGuire, CBIA’s director of public affairs, explains “The intent of the new law was to take fundraising out of the election process so that other people, besides the wealthy or well-connected, could run for office.”
That might sound like a good thing, but public financing raises a concern, says Rathgeber: It could encourage more single-issue candidates to run for office. “Under the old system, candidates needed to understand and have positions on a broad range of public policy issues in order to attract enough supporters to run a viable campaign.”
Having a broad background is essential, he notes, for a legislator to make sound decisions on the many diverse issues that come up at the legislature.
A less business-friendly legislature
“So far,” says McGuire, “the new law doesn’t seem to have had much impact on encouraging people to run for office, because the number of uncontested seats is about the same as in past years.”
That’s not a good omen, considering the potentially harmful proposals legislators considered in recent sessions—including taxpayer-funded health care and a measure banning employers from discussing broadly defined “political” issues with their employees.
“The legislature has been trending more liberal and less business-friendly,” says Brennan. “If we can’t reverse that, it will be difficult for Connecticut to improve our economic competitiveness.”
The current makeup of the General Assembly is 24 Democrats and 12 Republicans in the Senate and 107 Democrats and 44 Republicans in the House. Several key legislators who have been strong supporters of measures to improve Connecticut’s economy, including Speaker of the House Jim Amann, have decided not to run for re-election.
The need to be informed
As a result of the new campaign finance law, businesspeople need to find other ways of participating in the election process besides donating to PACs or advertising in ad books, says Brennan. “They need to be much more informed and more personally involved. One way they can get involved is by donating their time as campaign volunteers.”
Businesses, even state contractors and registered lobbyists, can still volunteer for a campaign. For example, they can display candidates’ signs on lawns; drive candidates to campaign events, using their own cars and gas; and tell people why they think a particular candidate is a good choice or a bad choice.
“Companies can still invite candidates into their workplace and try to educate them on key issues affecting their business,” McGuire adds. “Candidates are formulating their positions now, and after they’re elected, they will continue modifying them through the rest of the year. So now is a good time to educate them about your business.”
You should also educate yourself and your employees about candidates and issues. A public-opinion survey CBIA commissioned last fall, says Rathgeber, “shows that employees trust employers as one of the best sources of information on public policy issues affecting Connecticut’s economy.”
While the Internet has made it easy to find information on candidates and topics, many Web sites are not balanced or accurate. And with the news media riveted to the presidential race, candidates for state offices get comparatively little press. Those hurdles and “the continued shrinkage in newspapers make it increasingly hard for voters to get unbiased information on candidates,” Rathgeber says.
CBIA’s CTbizVotes.com helps meet that need. The site provides background and contact information for all candidates and links to voter registration and absentee ballot forms and candidates’ Web sites.
Besides educating employees, Rathgeber urges you to help ensure that your employees are registered to vote and know when and where to vote. “For democracy to work, you have to vote—and be an informed voter,” he says.
Diane Friend Edwards is a freelance writer in Thomaston and the former editor of CBIA News.
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