Yes My position on public financing of campaigns has been consistent and well known. I support public financing of campaigns to help eliminate the ability of wealthy special interests to exert
undue influence on public policy and/or secure contracts, special regulations or other financial advantages.
Campaign finance is a multi billion dollar unregulated industry.
Public finance would provide transparency, accountability, and open our democracy to people with more talent than money.
I was a sponsor of the McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Law, which brought more openness and accountability to National Contributions to campaigns. I support open and transparent public
involvement in the political process.
I believe that elections must be about the voters, and not lobbyists or campaign donors. The current system is broken. Running a campaign has become ridiculously expensive, and the process puts all candidates and elected officials in a very difficult position. Often, more time must be spent raising money than educating and informing voters. In addition, it undermines the public trust in how decisions are made that impact communities.
Yes Public financing of municipal campaigns is the ideal model, both to level the playing field between rich and poor candidates and to implement caps on campaign spending, although there are obviously many obstacles to implementation, both budgetary and legal. New York City has a public finance model worth reviewing. As Mayor I will develop and introduce campaign finance/ethics reform ordinances for the City of Chicago and support such efforts at the state and federal levels.
Yes each campaign should receive the same amount of money and be limited to that amount of spending.
Yes Level the playing field