{news} Hartford Courant- 'Weicker Call Reform Unfair"

[Green Party-CT]

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  http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-weicker1203.artdec03,0,3129823.story?coll=hc-headlines-home         

Weicker Calls Reform Unfair 

Vows Legal Fight, Saying 3rd Parties Hurt On Funding 

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       -->By MARK PAZNIOKAS
Courant Staff Writer

December 3 2005

Former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. said Friday he will ask a judge to strike down Connecticut's new system of publicly financing campaigns, saying it discriminates against minor parties.

Weicker, who outflanked the two-party system in 1990 to win the governor's race as a third-party candidate, said that the bill passed Thursday virtually locks out minor candidates for statewide office.

"It is entirely, in my opinion, illegal or unconstitutional to go ahead and in effect set the bar higher for third-party candidates," Weicker said.

Weicker said he probably will offer himself as a plaintiff in a legal challenge he expects to be filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, but he would file his own lawsuit if necessary.

"I'm not going to let this thing die, not by a long shot," Weicker said.

The bill bans contributions from lobbyists and state contractors and creates a system of publicly financing campaigns, beginning in 2008 for legislative races and 2010 for governor and other state constitutional offices.

Weicker, 74, who left office in January 1995 after a single term as governor, said he had no opinion on public financing. The only source of his ire was the bill's treatment of minor candidates.

His old party, A Connecticut Party, is inactive, but Weicker remains an unaffiliated voter who sees minor parties as a necessary check on the majority parties. He and his wife, Claudia, recently endorsed an independent candidate for town council in West Hartford, where Claudia Weicker grew up.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she was aware of Weicker's plans.

"Gov. Weicker called me as a courtesy to share his concerns about the bill and to let me know about a possible legal challenge because of the constraints the new law will put on third-party candidates. I share his concerns. This is one of the troubling aspects of the bill that I intend to address," Rell said.

The threat of litigation will not alter her plans to sign the legislation next week, Rell said.

"The important thing is that the bill was passed, I plan to sign it into law and the much-needed reform of our election process is becoming a reality," she said.

The ACLU of Connecticut is considering also challenging the constitutionality of the ban on contributions by lobbyists and contractors. Courts have equated donations with free speech.

Under the bill, Democratic and Republican nominees will automatically qualify for public financing of $25,000 for a House race, $85,000 for a Senate contest and $3 million for a gubernatorial run if they meet private fundraising thresholds of $5,000 for a House campaign, $15,000 for a Senate race and $250,000 for governor.

Minor-party and petitioning candidates must clear an additional hurdle of mounting a major petition drive. To obtain the same money given Democrats and Republicans, minor candidates would have to collect signatures from eligible voters equal to 20 percent of the turnout in the most recent election for the office. 

Based on a turnout of more than 1 million voters statewide in 2002, a minor party gubernatorial candidate would need more than 200,000 signatures to qualify for full funding. Candidates for legislative office would need anywhere from several hundred signatures for House races in low-turnout urban districts to several thousand for Senate seats in highly competitive suburban areas.

Lesser public grants could be obtained by collecting signatures from 10 percent or 15 percent of voters - still a daunting a task, according to many politicians. Qualifying for the ballot requires only 1 percent.

Legislative sponsors defended the requirements as necessary to keep frivolous candidates from obtaining public money.

Tom Swan of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group said the state legislation is friendlier to minor candidates than the federal public financing law for presidential races.

Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who reluctantly voted for the bill, said his colleagues rejected his idea for a uniform public financing system: For every dollar raised in small contributions from local voters, the state would provide $3 in matching funds.

"It would have clearly treated all candidates for public office the same - and the grants would be directly correlated to the amount of work candidates put into it," McDonald said.

He said Weicker's involvement will give great visibility to the complaints about the campaign-finance bill.

"He is a great spokesman for the rights of minority parties, and he does well on the soap box," McDonald said. "He's got great credentials for advocating that position."   Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant 




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      THE GREEN PARTY OF CONNECTICUT is the third largest political party in CT. The Greens are also the third largest political party in the US, with 220 Greens officeholders in 27 states. Over 80 countries in world have Green Parties. Wangari Maathai, the 2004 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is Kenya's assistant minister for environment and an elected Green Party member.
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National Committee member from Connecticut: Tim McKee (860) 324-1684

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