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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Letter to Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO)

Senator Bennet,

I appreciate your reply to my letter concerning campaign finance reform.  Thank you for taking the time to write me back.  I am a supporter of changing the way we finance campaigns, however I don't believe the current bills go far enough to remove special interest influence from elections, or from Washington.

In your letter you say  "Opponents of public financing question whether real or apparent corruption from private
fundraising is as serious a problem as critics claim. They argue that public financing would
be an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars and would allocate taxpayer dollars to
candidates they do not support."


My reply is this.  First the problem of corruption from private fundraising is serious.  Those who say it isn't are most likely involved in the corruption we are talking about.  Second, my tax money goes to support wars and policies, that I do not support.  My tax dollars go to pay politicians I do not support a salary.  If we truly want to have a government of the people and for the people,  we will remove money from the equation.

As I said in my previous letter we have laws to regulate influence peddling when we should have laws against what in most other contexts would be a felony.  It is time to change this.  Failure to do so is failure for this country.

When I look at Washington today I see an ineffective government that can't get things done.  Where is health care reform?  We haven't closed Gitmo.  We have no accountability for torture committed in our name. We are still losing valuable members of the military to don't ask, don't tell.  The banks are still doing their business as usual at the expense of the people of this country.  AIG owes taxpayers $185 billion, and they are paying out over $100 million in bonuses to the same people who drove the economy to the brink of collapse.  This is unacceptable.

The process of making laws is broken and we must now have super majorities to get business done in this country.  It is time for a complete overhaul of Congress.  If this can't be done, then maybe we do need to go to the streets.

I was also disappointed to get an invitation to see the President as a fundraiser for you at a thousand dollars a pop for the first reception and $15000 for the second one.  Sorry sir, I don't have that kind of money.  I can barely pay my mortgage to Bank Of Amerika and can't get them to work with me to rearrange my loan to reduce the payment.  It made me smile to see Ken Lewis and BoA charged with fraud today.

Senator,  I hope you haven't drank the water in Washington, but it appears you have.  If you and your fellow almost super majority can't get it done soon it is going to be a rough election campaign.  Good luck with that.  Please sir I implore you to do the work of the people and tell the corporations and the special interests, that we are not for sale.

Thank you,
Rev. Jeremy Cook


Senator Bennet's reply to my letter.


Here is the reply I received from Senator Bennet regarding campaign finance reform.  I am amazed at how he didn't even have the decency to acknowledge lobbyist reform.

fromMichael Bennet, US Senator for Colorado
toravenlaughing@gmail.com
dateWed, Jan 27, 2010 at 8:12 AM
subjectA message from Senator Michael Bennet
mailed-bybennet.senate.gov
hide details Jan 27 (9 days ago)
Dear Jeremy:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Fair Elections Now Act of 2009 (S. 752). I
appreciate hearing from you.

Let me begin by saying that I am open to re-evaluating our current campaign finance
laws. I believe any changes to existing laws must strive to promote fairness,
transparency, and integrity in our federal election process. 

As you may know, S. 752 was introduced by Senator Durbin and would amend the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to allow House and Senate candidates
the choice to run for office through publically funded campaigns. Through a mixture of
base subsidies, matching funds, and broadcast vouchers, the only limit to funding would
be the number of individual $100 contributions that the public funding would match with
$400 dollars, donated per election within the district or state. 

Critics of current campaign finance laws believe that the ever growing costs of running a
campaign and the resulting reliance on wealthy donors, groups and committees to
finance campaigns have undermined the integrity and transparency of the electoral
system. Those wishing to reform campaign finance laws with efforts such as S. 752 claim
the candidates would be freed from constant fundraising and be able to better focus on
the needs of the people they seek to represent. Supporters maintain that by replacing
private funds with public money, the corrupting influence of large private contributions
could be lessened somewhat. 

Opponents of public financing question whether real or apparent corruption from private
fundraising is as serious a problem as critics claim. They argue that public financing would
be an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars and would allocate taxpayer dollars to
candidates they do not support. 

Currently, S. 752, the Fair Elections Now Act, has been referred to the Senate Committee
on Rules and Administration. Although I am not a member of this Committee, should this
legislation reach the full Senate I will keep your thoughts in mind. 

I value the input of fellow Coloradans in considering the wide variety of important issues
and legislative initiatives that come before the Senate. I hope you will continue to inform
me of your thoughts and concerns.

For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my
website at http://bennet.senate.gov/. Again, thank you for contacting me.


Sincerely,

Michael Bennet
United States Senator

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