{news} Governor Rell Calls Special Session for Campaign Finance Reform

[David Bedell]

What do people think of Rell's proposal?  What debate I've heard is about 
the implementation schedule rather than the measures proposed.  Some 
Democrats are saying if PAC money is reduced now but public funding doesn't 
start till 2008 or 2010, it gives wealthy individuals a headstart.

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From: cfwg@ yahoogroups.com [mailto:cfwg@ yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of 
Stacey Zimmerman
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 2:40 PM
To: CFRcoalition; CFWG Listserv
Subject: [cfwg] Rell Special Session Statement

M. Jodi Rell
Governor


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2005

Contact:

Rich Harris
860-524-7313
rich.harris@ ct.gov

Governor Rell Calls Special Session for Campaign Finance Reform

'Immense Opportunity Now Before You,' Governor Says

            Governor M. Jodi Rell today called the Connecticut General
Assembly into special session on October 11 for the purpose of passing into
law a campaign finance reform bill, telling lawmakers the time had come to
achieve the crucial reforms the people of the state demand.

           "It is time for real leadership on this issue," Governor Rell
said. "We have both an historic opportunity and an extraordinary
responsibility. It would be as tragic to miss the former as it would
inexcusable to neglect the latter."

            The Governor said, "The need for campaign finance reform has
never been clearer, or the opportunity greater." She noted the recent guilty
plea of former state Senator Ernest Newton, the ongoing federal corruption
trial of former Illinois Governor George Ryan and the indictment Wednesday
of U.S. Representative Tom Delay (R-Texas).

            "We are presumed to be a government of the people, by the people
and for the people," Governor Rell said in a letter to members of a Campaign
Finance Reform Working Group that labored over the summer but failed to
produce fully drafted legislation. "The very legitimacy of that government
is called into question when - rightly or wrongly - the perception exists
that a moneyed few play a special role or have a special influence over
elections and policy.

            "There seems to be little disagreement about this concept," the
Governor wrote. "Yet after months of discussion and debate, after countless
hours of hearings and testimony, after numerous proposals and
counter-proposals, after genuine efforts at bipartisanship and pointless
exercises in political gamesmanship, nothing has been accomplished.

            "You will be receiving formal notice of the special session
shortly. I urge you and your colleagues in the General Assembly to make the
most of the immense opportunity now before you. The people of our state
deserve nothing less," Governor Rell wrote.

            With the call for a special session, the Governor presented a
fully drafted campaign finance reform bill, which completes the "framework"
produced by the Working Group she created after the regular session ended
June 8.

            "It is time for leadership, not delay, debate or deliberate
denial disguised as disagreement," Governor Rell wrote.

            Governor Rell warned that she would maintain the standards for
reform she has insisted upon throughout the debate: Any bill sent to her
desk must make substantive changes, not merely tinker with the details; the
changes must apply to candidates for both statewide and legislative races;
and the changes must take effect upon passage - including immediate bans on
campaign contributions from lobbyists and state contractors and their
political action committees, and the use of "ad books," which skirt business
campaign contribution limits.

            The Governor's bill would:


********* Immediately ban contributions from lobbyists and state contractors
and their PACs

********* Immediately ban contribution solicitations by lobbyists and state
contractors and their PACs

********* Immediately ban "ad books"

********* Create a "Citizens Election Fund" - to be funded through unclaimed
property receipts - for legislative elections beginning in 2008 and
statewide elections beginning in 2010

********* Restrict legislators to a single PAC each

********* Restrict caucuses to a single PAC each

********* Prohibit contributions from municipal contractors to candidates
for municipal office

********* Permit municipalities to adopt public financing at the local level

********* Restrict contributions from political appointees to candidates for
the offices in which they work to $100

            Governor Rell said in her letter to lawmakers that while she
cannot, by law, set the length of the special session, she believes no more
than two days should be required to finish work on a reform bill.

            "After all of the discussion and debate, the hearings and
testimony, the proposals and the Working Group, there is no need to spend a
great deal of taxpayer money on a lengthy session," the Governor said. "It
is time for swift - and bold - action."