{news} Campaign Reforms Challenged

[clifford thornton]

      http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctaclu0707.artjul07,0,5354492.story?coll=hc-headlines-local<http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctaclu0707artjul07,0,5354492.story?coll=hc-headlines-local>


      CONNECTICUT NEWS 

Campaign Reforms Challenged
 ACLU Lawsuit Says New Law Violates Rights Of Some Donors, Hurts Minor Parties
July 7, 2006 
By MARK PAZNIOKAS, Courant Staff Writer 

      The sweeping campaign finance reforms passed last year by the General Assembly violate free-speech rights of certain political donors and discriminate against minor political parties, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

      In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford, the ACLU asked Judge Robert N. Chatigny to block the new system of publicly financing campaigns from taking effect in the 2008 election cycle unless legislative changes are made next year.

      "For the sake of political expediency, the General Assembly passed and the governor signed fundamentally flawed legislation that plays fast and loose with the constitutional rights of both candidates and their supporters," said Roger C. Vann, executive director of the ACLU.

      Hailed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Democratic legislative leaders as model legislation, the 2005 law has two constitutional flaws in the view of the ACLU and five other plaintiffs: minor-party candidates cannot obtain public financing as easily as Democrats and Republicans, and a ban on so-called special interest contributions is overly broad.

      Lobbyists, state contractors and immediate family members are barred from contributing to campaigns or soliciting donations, violating their free-speech rights, the ACLU said. Rell and legislators had been advised that a total ban was legally risky, but they could restrict contributions.

      Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the law was constitutional and would be defended in court.

      "The legislature rightfully believed that public financing was critical to eliminating abuses in the present system - and these public policy goals are entitled to respect," Blumenthal said.

      The law created a Citizens' Election Fund under which qualifying candidates who agree to spending limits can obtain grants to finance primary and general election campaigns, starting with the 2008 elections. General election grants range from $25,000 for a House race to $3 million for governor.

      Joining the ACLU as plaintiffs are: Betty Gallo, a lobbyist whose clients include the ACLU; Joanne P. Philips, a Democratic activist whose husband is a lobbyist for the Connecticut Bar Association; Michael DeRosa, a Green Party leader and candidate for secretary of the state; the Green Party; and the Libertarian Party.

      The suit says Gallo is excluded from making contributions as a lobbyist, while Philips is effectively barred from political fundraising because she is married to a lobbyist. Gallo and Philips each have managed political campaigns and made and solicited contributions.

      The ACLU said minor party candidates effectively are prohibited from public financing by a provision requiring that the party received at least 10 percent of the vote in the prior election. Petitioning candidates can qualify only if they gather signatures from voters equal to at least 10 percent of the votes cast for that office in the last election.

      As originally approved, the thresholds were higher. Legislators dropped them to 10 percent this year.

      "They thought they were making a good effort to bridge the gap," said Andy Sauer, the executive director of Connecticut Common Cause.

      But they still are too high, the plaintiffs said.

      "The onerous requirements in this law stack the deck against third parties and make it almost impossible for Green Party candidates to receive campaign funding," DeRosa said.

      Rep. Christopher L. Caruso, D-Bridgeport, one of the law's chief sponsors, said the legislature set reasonable standards for minor candidates to meet before they can obtain public financing.

      "They can access the system. It doesn't lock them out of it," he said.

      Rich Harris, a spokesman for Rell, said the governor was open to changes that might improve the law, but she believed the system was constitutional as currently constructed.

      Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas at courant.com. 



     
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