Public Citizen

Our President Should Be Elected by Voters, Not Dollars

The presidential public financing system was created 30 years ago in the wake of the Watergate scandals to reduce the clout of special-interest money in presidential campaigns. The system provides significant amounts of public funds for primary elections and nearly full public financing for general elections. Public financing dramatically reduces the need for presidential candidates to seek money from special interests who want access to decision-makers in return.

This system worked -- until the election of 2000. Now it needs to be updated for modern elections. A fix is possible.

Write your elected officials in support of The Presidential Funding Act of 2006. When passed, The “Presidential Funding Act of 2006” will

Strengthen the existing publicly financed program;
Making the system financially viable for candidates in modern elections; and
Avoid a return of corrupting influences from rich, special-interest campaign “slush funds.”

Write now (use your own words for the most effective persuasion of your official).

March 21, 2019

Subject:

As your constituent and as a person deeply concerned about corruption in Washington, I urge you to support the Presidential Funding Act of 2006.

The “Presidential Funding Act of 2006” will:

-- Increase the spending ceilings for publicly funded candidates in both the primary (to $150 million) and general elections (to $100 million) to reflect the current cost of electing a president and make the funds available earlier to reflect campaign schedules. The spending ceilings are increased further if a non-participating candidate spends in excess of 120 percent of those ceilings;

-- Provide a 4-to-1 match of public funds for private donations of $200 or less, which means that a $200 contribution would provide $1,000 to a participating candidate in the primary elections. In the general election, participating candidates could receive all of their campaign budget in public funds in exchange for giving up special-interest contributions;

-- Enhance the funding source for the program by increasing the voluntary tax check-off from $3 per person to $10. The check-off does not add any tax burden to taxpayers. It simply allows a taxpayer to designate that a portion of his or her taxes will be used to clean up presidential elections; and

-- Prohibit the national parties from using unregulated, special-interest money to pay for their lavish national party nominating conventions.

Please fix the now broken presidential public campaign funding system that was created to fix the problems surfaced by the Watergate era.  Vote for the Presidential Funding Act of 2006.

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