O'Malley announces detailed plan to reform campaign finance
BOSTON -- Marking the start of a new quarter of fundraising for candidates in the race for the presidential nomination, Democrat Martin O'Malley released his plan Thursday to get big money out of politics.
"I'm not naïve: campaign resources are important," O'Malley said in a statement. "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."
O'Malley, who lags far behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the polls, has not yet announced how much money his campaign raised in the third quarter. In quick succession Wednesday night, both Clinton and Sanders announced that their campaigns pulled in more than $20 million between July and September.
His plan, outlined in a 5-page white paper, calls for an overhaul of the Federal Election Commission, provides incentives for voters to participate in elections and for political candidates to prioritize small donations and, ultimately, moves the Congressional election system toward public financing within 5 years.
If elected president, O'Malley promises to "fundamentally restructure" the FEC, which he describes in his paper as "inherently partisan and perpetually deadlocked." His plan would put a single administrator in place to oversee the agency and demands that updated, more restrictive regulations and disclosure rules be imposed on political action committees and other outside groups. New FEC commissioners and an attorney general, appointed by an O'Malley administration, would also be responsible for enforcing campaign finance laws.
In particular, O'Malley's plan would restrict coordination between campaigns and super PACs. It specifically mentions the "internet exemption," which has been previously reported as one loophole in campaign finance law that allows the pro-Clinton group Correct The Record to coordinate with the Clinton campaign. O'Malley would do away with the exemption, according to his plan.
To further reduce the influence of outside spending on politicians and political campaigns, O'Malley aims to boost the role of small donations from everyday voters. His proposal offers a $25 tax credit to those who contribute to candidates running for Congressional office and establishes a national fund, called the "Freedom From Influence Fund," that would match, at a rate to $9 to $1, donations under $150 to candidates who commit to accepting only small-dollar donations. Additional federal dollars would be available to candidates who raise $50,000 or more in small-dollar donations in the two months prior to an election.
In his plan, O'Malley also calls for overturning Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that lifted restrictions on independent political expenditures. Both Clinton and Sanders have also said that they would work to reverse the decision.