Common Cause calls for Pawlenty payback
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Common Cause Minnesota wants Gov. Tim Pawlenty to payback all the campaign money he's received through the Political Contribution Refund program. The pending demise of the program prompted this news release:
Common Cause Minnesota calls on Governor Pawlenty to return all the money that he has received as a result of the political contribution refund (PCR) program. Last Friday, Gov. Pawlenty said on his radio show that he never liked the PCR program. However, Governor Pawlenty collected $236,222 in contributions through the political contribution refund program since 1995, using it while campaigning for state legislature and the governor's office.
"Governor Pawlenty, and almost every other candidate and political party, has used the political contribution refund program because it is a valuable way to engage people in the political process," said Mike Dean, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, a statewide government watchdog group. "This program allows candidates to raise money from average Minnesotans and thus focus on their issues, instead of just the issues of wealthy or special interests."
Minnesota state elections have largely been considered clean because of the political contribution refund program and other elements of the public financing system. By getting rid of this program through unallotment, Gov. Pawlenty has moved Minnesota closer to a federal model where candidates raise and spend outrageous sums of money to get elected. In fact, this year Congress is looking at creating a similar type of public financing system to limit the influence of well financed special interest groups.
Minnesota's public financing system has been an important reason that Minnesota state government is considered a model of "good government." Without PCR, elected officials will be largely financed by interest groups and caucuses, and as the primary financiers of the campaign they will have far more influence. This influence will come at the expense of the average Minnesotan.
Last Friday, Pawlenty defended his decision to eleiminate the PCR during his weekly radio show. The Republican governor said the refund is not a priority.
"The state pays $10 million a budget cycle to give out those refunds to subsidized the campaigns of people running for state office, Pawlenty said. "And so it's a nice program, it has it's own rationale. But in these challenging economic times, when we're trying to set priorities, I don't think subsidizing that program is more important than trying to keep some of our other things, like funding our schools and our health care programs."
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