| Crossposted from Channel Surfing:
This is an interesting idea from Lawrence Township, one I'd like to see the powers in South Brunswick and Monroe (and every other municipalty) consider.
Councilman Greg Puliti is proposing that Lawrence pay for local political campaigns.
Mr. Puliti said he reviewed several years of Township Council candidate campaign finance reports.
"It boiled down to about $10,000 or $16,000 spent on a Township Council election campaign," he said. "It averaged out to about $5,000 per candidate."
Township Council candidates typically spend money on fliers, newspaper advertisements and lawn signs promoting their candidacies, he said. They may also rent space on a billboard.
Mr. Puliti said the municipal budget would include money for the campaigns that could be budgeted in small increments. Allocating $15,000 or $30,000 in an overall municipal budget of $37 million is less than one-half of one percent, he said.
Certainly interesting, though it needs to be fleshed out some. Right now, there does not appear to be any locally run "clean-elections" programs in New Jersey and only a few nationally, but the state is experimenting with a program for the Legislature and it is possible that something could work at the local level.
The basic idea behind clean elections is that candidates would raise seed money -- a specific amout of locally generated donations in $5 and $10 increments -- to qualify for public funding. Those that qualify would get a set amount of cash to run in exchange for promising to abide by spending limits. Candidates could opt out and spend more, but that would trigger an equalizer clause -- extra cash for the candidates who participate.
There are other options, as well, such as the model ordinance drafted by the Citizens' Campaign, under which towns would provide matching funds and/or in-kind services -- Web site or cable TV access, for instance -- in exchange for abiding by limits.
The idea is to cleanse the system of private cash, which creates the impression that candidates and elected officials are more concerned about their contributors than their actual voting constituents, and to level the playing field for minority and third-party candidates.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick |
