{news} THIRD PARTIES: Yer Out!! (NH-ADVOCATE)

[Tim McKee]

Third Parties: Yer Out
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Independent Cicero Booker says his $85,000 election grant proves
Connecticut's public financing program hurts third parties.
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
By Betsy Yagla Cicero For The Senate PhotoWaterbury Independent Cicero
Booker: "They're trying to make it difficult for minor parties."

Cicero Booker is the poster child for the state's new campaign finance
reform law designed to limit the influence of special interest money on
state elections by providing state-funded grants.

Booker is one of the only minor party candidates whose campaign will be
funded by the Citizens Election Program this year. Depending which side
you're on, Booker's status proves the CEP is discriminatory toward third
party candidates or it proves that it helps them.

In order to receive public grants, third party candidates must meet
higher standards than Democrats and Republicans. To get the full grant,
the candidate's party must have earned at least 10 percent of the vote
for the same office in the prior election, or must collect petition
signatures equal to 20 percent of those who voted last time. The
candidate can get lesser grant amounts by collecting signatures equal to
10 or 15 percent of the vote.

That's unfair, says Booker, who's running for state Senate as an
Independent in Waterbury. "To put all these hurdles in front of us, I
believe it's to protect the majority parties," Booker says. "They're
trying to make it difficult for the minor parties."

Booker had to collect 2,702 signatures to qualify for the $85,000 grant
available to state Senate candidates, a burden not shared by the major
parties. Republicans did not field a candidate in 33 state House and
Senate seats in 2006. Imagine if they had to petition for funding in
districts where they weren't on the ballot last time.

"The funding is equal but the hurdles are different," he says. In
addition to gathering signatures, Booker had to raise $15,000. His
opponents had to raise the same amount, but didn't need to go through the
onerous task of petitioning.

The pro-labor Working Families Party, which is cross-endorsing Booker,
had 30 canvassers to go door to door for three weeks to collect the
signatures for Booker (they were paid for by Cicero for Senate).

"We think the thresholds could be more reasonable," says Working Families
Party boss Jon Green. But, Green says, "It's an opportunity for minor
party candidates to campaign with the resources that are commensurate
with their major party opponents. Is the law perfect? No. Could it be
better and more reasonable for minor parties? Yes. At the end of the day
is it a better system, and does it create more opportunity? I think the
answer is yes."

Beth Rotman, the director of the state's public financing program says
the Citizens Election Program benefits minor parties, and she cites
Cicero Booker as an example. Historically most minor parties weren't able
to raise more than $1,000, Rotman says, and "even the possibility of
getting an $85,000 or $25,000 grant is a terrific sign of things going in
the right direction."

The Connecticut Green Party disagrees. "If they want to have a two-party
system and they want to finance it through this fund, fine," says Mike
DeRosa, the party's state co-chair. "But don't go out and say this is
campaign finance reform, because it's not. It's working very well for the
two major parties, but it's not working for third parties and independent
candidates."

Not one of the Green Party's five candidate for state House or Senate has
qualified for public funding in this year's election.

Forcing the third-party candidates to petition without making Democrats
and Republicans do the same is discriminatory, DeRosa says.

"What is so different about third parties that we have to petition?" asks
DeRosa. "You can't set two separate standards for two political parties."

In 2005 the Green Party of Connecticut filed a discrimination lawsuit
against the State Elections Enforcement Commission, which oversees the
new campaign finance law and the awarding of campaign grants.

That lawsuit should be decided in January, a Bridgeport district judge
announced at a court hearing last week. Whichever side loses will
inevitably appeal the decision and the hope is that the matter will be
settled in time for the 2010 elections when state legislators' and the
governor's offices are up for grabs.

"I call it the 'No Democrat or Republican Left Behind' law," says DeRosa.
"If we don't get access to this money, then it isn't the Connecticut
election fund, it's a Democrat and Republican election fund."

byagla at newhavenadvocate.com



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Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282
 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com

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