New Haven Independent

Rell’s Fix

by Paul Bass | February 7, 2006 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Connecticut passed a historic clean-elections law in December, some cynical enemies of reform took heart. They knew they had put together a flawed bill with some outrageous fine print; maybe outside groups would kill the whole deal with a court challenge. Indeed, some pro-reform groups are considering suing to kill the new law because of unfair provisions against third parties. Gov. Jodi Rell has a better idea. Tuesday she proposed that the legislature fix the bad parts instead — by, for instance, lowering the threshold third parties need to meet to qualify for funding; blocking government contractors from contributing to all state campaigns, not just a few specific ones; banning legislative leadership PACs; and reducing the amount of public money going to unopposed candidates (from 30 to 10 percent of the amount offered candidates in competitive races).

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