“We Need to Support Candidates for Office”—Guest MINDSETTER™ Senator James Sheehan
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
The biggest challenge to representative government today is finding people to run for office. And the biggest roadblock to finding those people is how expensive political campaigns have become.
If you’re running for the state legislature, it’s not unheard of to spend tens of thousands of dollars — in fact, it’s the average. Of course, there are ways to raise funds. But just the thought of having to raise that much money can be pretty daunting to the average citizen, and it keeps some pretty qualified candidates out of the political arena.
So how do we level the playing field and keep representative government from being exclusively the domain of the wealthy?
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRhode Island currently has a system that provides matching funds to candidates for statewide office: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and general treasurer — but not candidates for the General Assembly.
In order to help ordinary citizens to run and shift the power away from special interests, I have submitted legislation (2019-S 0457) that would create a “democracy voucher” program that would be available to legislative candidates as well as statewide office candidates. I worked with the good-government group Common Cause to devise a campaign finance system that focuses on the voters rather than the state’s biggest donors.
Under the program, all Rhode Island voters would receive an equal number of democracy vouchers that they could assign to candidates of their choice. The funding could be used for primary races as well as the general election. Candidates would be eligible to receive voucher funds in an amount equal to $500,000 for candidates for governor, $250,000 for candidates for other general office, and $150,000 for candidates for legislative office.
In order to receive funds from the voucher program, candidates would have to raise a certain amount of funding privately — half of which must be from their own districts, in the case of legislative candidates — to show they have viable public support. They would also agree to limit the amount of their own money they contribute to their campaigns. (No more than $75,000 per election cycle for gubernatorial candidates, $18,750 for other statewide office candidates and $5,000 for legislative candidates). Additionally, participants would agree to participate in at least two debates before a primary and two before a general election. They must also adhere to lower contribution limits for individuals and political action committees — $500, instead of the $1,000 allowed under law.
The bill is based on a model that was implemented in Seattle in 2017. That program resulted in twice as many people contributing using vouchers than the number who made private contributions. A study found the pool of those using the vouchers was also more representative of the electorate than that of those who gave private contributions.
It’s time for us to invest in democracy — to give more of a say to the voters and less to special interests. This bill will empower a wider variety of Rhode Islanders to run for public office, while also creating a system where candidates have incentive to look to a more diverse group — the entire electorate — for funding.
Our government is enriched when a broader set of candidates from different walks of life, experiences, and perspectives participate in the decision-making process of our society. I hope you will join with me in encouraging your state senators and representatives to support this innovative legislation that will change how citizens run for office.
The author, James C. Sheehan, is a state senator representing District 36 in North Kingstown and Narragansett. He resides in North Kingstown.