Campaign Finance Reform

By Sidney "Sid" Gold

Time to take the money out of politics and have the comminity elect their representatives and not big money

I want to address this voter apathy and disengagement in the democratic process. In order to end "dollar politics" and return political strength to the individual I will propose a series of campaign finance reforms.

If elected, I will introduce legislation that all political contributions be placed in a blind trust. This insures that a candidate would not have knowledge of the source of the gift, and that the trust account would be governed by strict disclosure rules. I support "clean money" candidates, a form of public financing of elections, which is currently in the legislative process as SB 583.

The length and effort involved in electing legislators has an adverse impact on campaigning for office. The amounts of money involved in a run for election is daunting and almost insures that the incumbent will win. By reducing the period of time to campaign, as in done in many countries, Great Britain for example, is a means to achieve the democratic ideals of our country.

Anecdotally, I had the experience of interviewing a candidate for an elected member of a utility board. My question to the candidate was a reference to the money spent on the campaign, which was a considerable six figure amount. I then asked how much the position paid annually, and was told it was $5000.00! I will let you conjecture the implications of this exchange.

It is my mission to bring sanity to our electoral process.

The Candidate Who Cares For You Dr Sid Gold