Does anyone really need me to tell them that we have to fix dependency-corruption in politics?
I will introduce legislation to implement a robust system of public campaign financing, similar to Seattle's democracy voucher program (though I do think we can do it a little better).
Under my plan, participating candidates could only receive funding through the democracy voucher program.
And we can put enough money into the program for it to not be worth it for politicians to forego participation to pander to special interests ever again.
Not only that, but this system would attract good people to politics, who otherwise have no appetite to pander to special interests.
Every registered voter, at no direct cost to them, would be able to give public money to their favorite candidate for every state and local office, for which they are eligible to vote. Federal offices too, if the courts allow it.
My proposed amounts would be:
State Assembly, State Senate, Governor: $50 (each)
All other Statewide elected offices and Board of Equalization: $10 (each)
Local elections: $100 per every 4-years-worth of local elections for each voter.
US House, Senate, and President: $50 (each)
CALIFORNIA NEEDS NOT ONE MORE LEGISLATOR WHO GETS ELECTED LIKE THIS:
In this very election, the best-funded candidate is being helped by over $1M from oil companies.
I hope you'll support me in making the history of making these kinds of campaigns history. We deserve a better democracy than this!
This Changes Everything!
Finally, politicians will have no doubt about who they are supposed to care about and want support from - their voters!
How much will this cost?
If the average registered voter uses half their voucher money (i.e. if half of registered voters use all of their vouchers), this would cost about $900 million per year, if federal elections are excluded, and $1.4 billion if they're included. It's hard to say whether the courts would allow us to include federal elections in this system.
These numbers may sound like a lot, but it is probably the best money we can ever spend.
California's total state budget is $296.2 Billion. That doesn't even include local government spending or direct federal spending.
I've spent a lot of time in the State Capitol.
There is no question that special interests are using terrible campaign finance laws to influence how that money is spent, against our interests. They own our democracy and the policy-making process.
We would be suckers not to spend this money to buy it back.
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I will also simultaneously introduce a ban on corporate contributions to state and local candidates. Corporations have been banned from making direct contributions to federal candidates for over 100 years, both before Citizens United and now.
In fact, it's a dirty little secret in the California Democratic Party, that Citizens United changed nothing for California at the state level, because we were already allowing everything Citizens United allowed and worse.
We should also lower contribution limits. State legislators can receive $9,400/election from each donor. Candidates for Governor can receive a whopping $62,000 from each donor. In contrast, candidates for President and Congress can only receive $5,600 from each donor.