Martin O’Malley Urges Public Financing of Congressional Campaigns.NYT
Martin O’Malley called Thursday for public financing of congressional campaigns and strengthening the Federal Election Commission to help fight abuses.
Mr. O’Malley unveiled the campaign finance reform plan on a day when many campaigns put out their totals of money raised for the quarter.
Other elements of Mr. O’Malley’s plan include tougher disclosure rules for campaigns and, as he has said in the past, overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that helped pave the way for the current big-money era in political finance.
“This week marks the end of another campaign fund-raising quarter. I’m not naïve: Campaign resources are important,” Mr. O’Malley said. “But the staggering figures required to run for the highest office in the land aren’t as much a sign of muscle as they are an indication just how broken our democracy is.”
Yet as Mr. O’Malley spoke, Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont who has emerged as the most formidable rival to Hillary Rodham Clinton, announced that he had raised $26 million, almost entirely in small-dollar contributions.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/10/01/martin-omalley-urges-public-financing-of-congressional-campaigns/