Carpino: Stop the Flow of Dirty Money from Financing State Elections

HARTFORD- State Rep. Christie Carpino (Cromwell & Portland) along with the House Republican caucus are advocating for the reversal of legislation that diminished the level of transparency and escalated the use of campaign dollars in negative campaigning in General Assembly elections last session.

“The people in my district are quite adamant they do not want more negative campaigning. I will continue to fight against a system that permits state and local parties to raise corporate cash to be spent in state campaigns for the sole purpose of throwing dirt and mud at one’s opponent. Campaigns should be focused the issues and not on lies and half-truths,” said Rep. Carpino.

Last session’s Campaign Finance legislation passed along partisan lines in both chambers of the General Assembly and was signed into law by the Governor. The non-partisan group Common Cause warned the changes will lead to a decrease in transparency, an erosion of current election oversight, an increase in special interest money and an unlimited increase in negative campaigning.

Here are the highlights of what Rep. Carpino is proposing:

• Prohibit organizational expenditures to be made on behalf of candidates in the Citizens’ Election Program, which promote the defeat of a candidate.
• Reduce the amount an individual may contribute per year to state central committees from $10,000 to $5,000.
• Require state central committees to file financial disclosure statements with the State Elections Enforcement Commission on a monthly basis.
• Require that candidate committees file financial disclosure statements with the State Elections Enforcement Commission within ten calendar days following an election.
• Prohibit Political Action Committees from making independent expenditures that benefit a candidate that has solicited on behalf of that political action committee in the time preceding that is equal to the term of office for which that candidate is running.
• Penalize improper contributions or expenditures made by state central committee federal accounts for the benefit of state candidates by imposing a civil penalty not to exceed triple the amount of the improper contribution or expenditure.