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Candidates Who Outraise Opponents Won 97.5%
of the Time - In all but two Assembly districts and one Senate district, the candidate who raised more campaign funds than their opponent won the race in the November 2002 elections, according to preliminary* analysis done by TheRestofUs.org. "Elections in California are currently up for sale to the highest bidder," said Derek Cressman, Director of TheRestofUs.org. "If a candidate can't win without having to outspend their opponent, it's questionable whether or not they are the right person to hold office and represent their district," he added. In most races, the fundraising imbalance was glaring, with winners raising hundreds of thousands of dollars more than losers. Such an imbalance can make it difficult for losing candidates to raise an opposing viewpoint, let alone win. "We need to level the playing field so that all candidates have an equal opportunity to present themselves to the voters," said Cressman. "Otherwise, the only candidates that can run for office in the first place will be those who can raise big bucks from special interests." The Assembly Elections Committee will consider AB 2949 today, a bill by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock to provide some candidates with public financing. Other potential reforms include setting mandatory limits on the amounts each candidate spends, limits on funds that candidates can raise from outside of their district, and limiting the amounts that donors can give to candidates and independent political committees to amounts that ordinary citizens can afford. TheRestofUs.org is a pro-democracy organization committed to deepening public awareness about big money in politics and solutions that citizens should consider. * This preliminary analysis is based on data downloaded from the National Institute of Money In State Politics on March 22, 2004. The Institute says that it is 80% complete. It does not include data from candidates who did not file electronically. home > media
center > news releases > 3/23/04 |
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