Reply #52: Yes and here's the pledge Dean has signed [View All]

Gov. Howard Dean, M.D. recently signed this campaign finance reform pledge, offered by a coalition of campaign finance reform groups including Common Cause, Democracy 21, League of Women Voters, and Public Citizen:

Candidate Pledge to Reduce the Role of
Special Interest Money in Presidential Elections

Preamble

I recognize that the most effective means for preserving the integrity of our electoral process, reducing undue special interest influence over officeholders, and creating a fair playing field for qualified candidates is public financing of elections. I also recognize that the soft money ban enacted in 2002 is an essential prerequisite to having an effective and meaningful presidential public financing system and that now we must repair this system. Public financing for candidates seeking the office of the Presidency has been a landmark system for our democracy since the Watergate scandals, and it is vital that we restore this system for the future.

Pledge

I pledge to preserve the integrity of Presidential elections and the office of the Presidency by making reform of the presidential financing system a priority for my Administration and by working to promptly enact legislation that would:

- Provide qualified candidates with the public funding necessary to wage meaningful and competitive campaigns without having to rely on wealthy contributors.

- Allow candidates to focus more time on communicating with voters by providing qualified candidates with public financing much earlier in the election season.

- Supply additional public funds to match excessive spending by non-participating candidates.

- Promote full participation by presidential candidates in the public financing system by appreciably increasing funding for an expanded program.

- Require a candidate at the outset either to opt in or out of the entire public financing system for both the primary and general elections.

I agree that by restoring the presidential financing system, we will help ensure that those seeking the Presidency are free from the constraints of special interest funding. In our democracy, no candidate who seeks to represent all Americans should have to depend on wealthy contributors to be elected President.