A Campaign Finance Reform Plan That Might Actually Work

By early July, Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., had quietly garnered 160 co-sponsors and the support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for a bill that would use public funds to counter expenditures on political campaigns by wealthy donors.

A companion bill in the Senate introduced by Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has 19 co-sponsors.

Jon Schwarz at The Intercept says the Sarbanes bill has three main parts:

• Everyone gets $25 to donate to candidates

All voters receive $25 per year to give to political campaigns, provided in the form of a refundable tax credit equal to half of donations up to $50. (For instance, if you donate $30 to a candidate, you get $15 of that back; to get the full $25 you have to donate $50.)

• 6 to 1 matching funds (at least) for small donors

Donations up to $150 to qualifying House and Senate candidates are matched 6 to 1 with public money. In other words, if your next door neighbor is running for Congress and you give her $50, she’ll get another $300, making $350 total.

And donations are matched 9 to 1 for candidates who completely renounce big money and take only donations of $150 or less. So if your neighbor is willing to do that, your $50 donation would turn into $500 total for her. (Moreover, if you use your $25 tax credit, that $500 she received would only cost you $25 total.)

• Help for candidates facing an onslaught of SuperPAC money, dark money, etc.

Candidates would be eligible for enhanced matching funds in the last 60 days before an election, with incentives so they would only access the funds if it’s a particularly high-cost race.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.