Reply #125: Dean an enemy of reform [View All]

Dean an enemy of reform
January 20, 2002
(from the Letters to the Editor section)

People have lost faith in the electoral system because they don’t believe that the old saying: One person one vote, has held true. They see the influx of corporate money into politics and the distortion it creates. Politicians are no longer beholden to the voters and their consciences alone. They owe their positions and their loyalty to various corporations and big money interests.

There has been much talk about campaign financing reform in recent years, and in Vermont we were lucky enough to have a comprehensive law written and passed on the issue. We have a system of public financing in place that allowed candidates to run without bowing down to corporate interests. Vermonters can have campaigns about issues, not about raising money.

But we are losing this resource. The Dean administration has long been opposed to public financing, if not always in words then in actions. In the 2000 elections, Dean had promised to run a clean campaign, but as soon as the spending caps were struck down by the courts, Dean reverted to his old ways. He raised the most money in Vermont gubernatorial history, by promising the health industry, among others, his support. Now he is attacking the existence of public financing for any candidate. He has threatened to raid the public financing fund and hand this state over to corporations who have no allegiance to it.

Tell Dean that you want citizens of Vermont controlling our elections, not his corporate buddies.

ROB CURRY-SMITHSON

Wilmington
http://rutlandherald.com/Archive/Articles/Article/41007