DENVER – As the latest quarterly presidential fundraising numbers were trickling in on Thursday, Colorado students and progressive groups called for campaign-finance reform.
At the center of the issue is an effort to empower ordinary citizens to contribute, as opposed to a wealthy few who contribute large amounts of cash through special-interest groups and political-action committees.
“We’re reminded today of how wealthy donors and special interests dominate our elections,” said Jessica Johnnes, a campaign organizer with the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, or CoPIRG.
Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton has raised about $75 million, with $28 million coming in just the past three months.
Her closest challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, raised more than $40 million in total, with an impressive $26 million in the third quarter. Sanders is a bit unique, however, in that he received small donations from more than 650,000 contributors and has refused to form a SuperPAC.
Among Republicans, Ben Carson reported nearly $21 million in donations in the third quarter, bringing his total to about $31 million.
The New York Times recently reported that just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, nearly half the early money.
In the coming days, details of where the third-quarter money came from will be released. But campaign-finance reform advocates say it should come as no surprise that “big money” has been overshadowing the race.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Johnnes said. “We can put everyday citizens back in charge of our elections by amplifying the voices of small donors.”
Reform advocates point to the Government by the People Act, a bill introduced in Congress. It would provide a tax credit for small donations, and would match those contributions with public dollars.
“When just a handful of large donors dominate fundraising efforts, average voters and the issues that concern them are not heard,” said Adam Gerkin, a University of Colorado Denver student, who participated in an event Thursday on the Auraria Campus in Denver.
But to make any significant progress, there would need to be an erosion of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago. Seventy-four percent of Colorado voters in 2012 backed a ballot question that encouraged a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. Still, there remains little hope of reversing the high court’s decision.
Johnnes said the Government by the People Act represents some semblance of hope, adding: “It’s not going to curtail all of the outside spending ... but it creates a whole model that’s new and tackles some of the other problems.”