Twenty years ago, Connecticut took a historic step in getting big money out of its state elections by passing the Citizens’ Election Program. The Citizens’ Election Program (CEP), administered by the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC), has been incredibly successful in returning political power back to the people.

But now, at a time when we continue to see just how much billionaires and corporations are willing to spend in other states to try to influence their elections, Connecticut state lawmakers are now joining in. They’re attempting to undermine the independence, integrity, and authority of the SEEC and the CEP.

We can’t let this happen.

It’s a complete betrayal of the people they are elected to represent and
extremely disappointing to our efforts to limit the influence of money in our politics.

The state legislature recently passed S.B. 1405 to gut the authority of the State Elections Enforcement Commission. This legislation would significantly limit SEEC’s ability to conduct post-election audits on publicly financed candidates, thereby threatening the transparency of the public financing program. It would also inject partisan politics into the public financing process by requiring the state legislature to appoint the SEEC Executive Director.

Currently, the legislature plays no role in appointing the SEEC Executive Director, ensuring the agency can independently evaluate and enforce elections processes. S.B. 1405 is a blatant power grab by the legislature to give the very people subject to SEEC investigations more control over the agency and the CEP.

Since Common Cause championed the Citizens’ Election Program in 2005, the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP) has helped ensure more competitive elections and a more diverse and representative legislature in Hartford. The CEP has more than proved its worth, and the vast majority of candidates for state representative, state senate, and constitutional office now run “clean” without taking donations from big money special interests. The independence and integrity of the State Elections Enforcement Committee is vital to the successful implementation of the CEP.

A national model for small donor financing of elections, the Citizens’ Election Program was created to address rampant corruption in the state and to give the people a say in the decisions that impact us and our families.

In fact, scandal and corruption were so rampant, the state earned the name “Corrupticut.” In case our state leaders in Hartford forgot, the Governor was forced to resign in 2004 after accepting gifts, including cigars, champagne, a vintage Ford Mustang convertible, a hot tub, and free or discounted luxury vacations. The FBI was even looking into the Governor, who went on to serve prison time.

It’s this kind of pay-to-play activity that leaves people distrustful of the
government. Programs like the CEP restore faith in our leaders that they are serving our interests, and not their own. All of which we are seeing far too much in Washington. We don’t need it spreading into Connecticut.

In this era of big money controlling elections and elected office, Connecticut provides the gold star example of how to use small dollar contributions to fuel our elections and strengthen our democracy.
We have a proven and effective program. It’s a system that we should be proud of, not one that should be gutted in favor of partisan, big money interests. Governor Lamont must veto S.B. 1405 to protect fair elections in Connecticut and hold our state officeholders to the highest ethical standards possible.