The Hill: Durbin, Dodd to Push for Public Financing of Elections

[RSchewe]

Two Dems seek money for elections

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and Sen. Chris Dodd, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, said yesterday that they will push for public financing of federal elections.

The revelations follow public financing proposals that two senior House Democrats unveiled late last month.

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Durbin, of Illinois, is the second-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, and Dodd, of Connecticut, is the most senior Democrat on the committee with jurisdiction over regulation of campaign finance.

Durbin told The Hill that while he supports the lobbying reform proposal endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), he believes that current campaign fundraising practices must also be addressed to tackle the problem of corruption. Specifically, Durbin said he is measuring the level of support for a public financing bill within the Senate Democratic caucus.

“I’m reaching out to the caucus to find out the level of interest,” he said.

“I guess we’ll be working together,” Durbin said when asked about Dodd’s interest in the same type of reform. “I heard Chris was interested.”

Dodd, in an interview, made two points. He argued that an “awful lot of what people are upset about are violations of existing laws” and that a major source of potential corruption exists in the “campaign fundraising area.”

He said that he would push for public financing legislation, but he did not discuss how he envisioned the details of such reform. He added that he hopes to mark up public-financing legislation in “a couple weeks.”

more...

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/020906/news3.html


Public campaign financing is an issue that will face harsh opposition from Republicans, but it is probably the key to getting at one of the biggest problems in our governement. This is a threat to those warchests that continue to undermine our election process.

The will need a lot of support. Let's just hope they are willing to go all the way with this.