ENGLISH FOR SENATE POSITION PAPER ON:

Public Funding of Elections

Much has been said about the need to reduce the undue and corrupting influence of money in the candidate selection and election process.  Primary elections were thought to be an alternative to the smoke-filled rooms employed by party elites  to select their candidates for the general elections.  However,  the process of having two elections, the primary election and the general election, has made the electoral process for national office a expensive and fatiguing marathon for candidates that is almost two years in duration.  Before a public funding scheme for elections can be adopted,  the same national primary election date for all states should be mandated and set about two months before the general election in November for all partisan candidates in primary elections.  This would shorten the electioneering period between the primary and general elections to two months and eliminate the undue influence on candidate selection by small states that deliberately set their primary election dates almost nine months before the general election in November.

Congress should require all television and radio stations to provide at least one-half hour of free programming from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the five-day workweek (holidays exempted) to candidates beginning three months before the primary election date as a condition of their FCC license renewal.   The Federal Election Commission would supervise and manage the process to insure that all candidates received equal TV and radio coverage.  Likewise, all newspapers would be required to provide at least one page of free space for candidates on the entire second page of their first sections during the same period.   Tax credits for the print media would offset the loss of revenue from the free space provided to the candidates.  There would be no compensation for the television and radio stations because the free broadcast time for candidates would be partial compensation for their use of the public's airwaves.  All stations would be required to provide the same amount of free time at the same time of day, so no station would gain a competitive advantage over any other station during the candidate broadcast periods.

In exchange for the free broadcast time, all candidates would have to agree to forego the use of any additional free or paid broadcast advertisements or personal appearances.  The same restriction would apply for free print media coverage. (also see the Congressional Term Limits Issue paper).

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