Clean Elections and the Courts - It's Hard to Keep Up

	Not a good campaign finance model

Keeping up with court decisions on campaign finance law is a formidable task. Our national partners at Public Campaign are always helpful in educating us and providing information the Clean Elections coalition needs.

On Oct. 16, OVEC staff member and Coalition coordinator Carol Warren and WV Citizen Actions Julie Archer took part in a national meeting in Washington, D.C. The discussion centered around the June 2008 Supreme Court decision overturning the "millionaire rule," Davis vs. Federal Election Commission.

Implications, if any, for public financing are still unclear, though it must be noted that the Davis decision did not include rulings on any matters specific to public financing.

In fact, Buckley v. Valeo, the landmark case that dealt with public financing reforms, was not called into question. The Davis decision dealt with two candidates, both of whom were privately funded, actively raising money and free to spend their own personal wealth.

The court ruled that allowing one candidates contribution limit to be tripled while the other candidates was not raised because of his greater personal wealth constituted unequal treatment.

There are certainly good reasons to believe that the court would look differently upon a situation in which there are two candidates, one of whom has opted for public funding and the other who has not.

Publicly funded candidates must agree at the outset to spending limits, not taking private contributions and other requirements.

Buckley suggests there are a number of "compelling state interests" in allowing public campaign financing programs. These are related to decreasing the possibility of and opportunity for corruption and buying of influence, and to fostering more participation in the electoral process by a diverse group of candidates.

And because of these compelling interests, advocates for public financing plan to forge ahead with their work at all levels, including the recent Fair Elections Now Act introduced in the United States Congress. For more information on the coalition activities in West Virginia, please visit our website www.wvoter-owned.org.