Greens across the state of Texas today are calling on their representatives to reject House Resolution 4694, the so-called
'Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act.' This bill would grant full public funding for the campaigns of the nominees of parties
(i.e., Democrats and Republicans) that had averaged 25% of the vote for House races in a given district in the last two elections.
All others (i.e., third party and independent candidates) would be required to submit petitions signed by 10% of the total number of
votes cast in the last election for partial funding, and 20% of votes cast for full funding.
Furthermore, candidates who don't qualify for funding would be barred from spending any privately raised money on their campaigns,
including petitioning costs for funding and ballot access, which can be substantial.
'10% and 20% in many districts represent prohibitively large numbers
of required signatures,' said Phil Huckelberry, co-chair of the Illinois Green Party and co-chair of the national Green Party's Ballot Access Committee. 'The goal behind HR 4694 is to use public financing of campaigns -- itself a
sorely needed reform -- to eliminate third party challenges in congressional races.'
The Green Party supports public financing of campaigns as one of several measures to remove the corrupting influence of corporations
on U.S. politics http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/
democracy.html#316100. However, Greens warned that HR 4694 uses public financing of campaigns as a cover to destroy democracy by further reducing the field to two parties and eliminating third party challenges in congressional races.
'Clearly, Democrats seeking congressional election are frightened of facing serious debate on the real issues that would expose them for
what they really are: kissing cousins of congressional Republicans,' said Bill Holloway, Texas delegate to the Green Party National
Committee, who went on to highlight Democrats' support for the appointment of right-wing judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court,
their support for Bush's immoral occupation of Iraq, their refusal to fight for living wages and universal health insurance, and their support for the USA PATRIOT Act.
HR 4694 would be especially hard on independent and third-party candidates for Congress in Texas, who already face one of the most restrictive statewide ballot access laws in the nation. To achieve ballot access this year, the Green Party will have to gather 45,580 valid signatures from registered Texas voters in less than three
months (between March and May of this year). In addition, only signatures from voters who do not vote in the March 7th Democrat and Republican primaries or participate in the precinct conventions of another party will count.
Greens called the bill patently unconstitutional and, if passed, unlikely to survive a court challenge. However, Greens said that the
bill is significant because of the line-up of Congress members supporting it.
The bill's eight sponsors include liberal Democrats: David Obey (Wis.), Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Barney Frank and James McGovern
(Mass.), Henry Waxman and Bob Filner (Calif.), Steve Israel (N.Y.), and Tim Ryan (Ohio). Mr. Obey, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. Israel faced
Green competition (Mike Miles, Ralph Ferrucci, and John Keenan, respectively) in recent elections, suggesting that their sponsorship
is retaliatory. Mr. Miles is seeking the House seat again in 2006 (Wisconsin, District 7); Mr. Ferrucci is running for the U.S. Senate
(Connecticut).
'The Democrats behind this bill have as little regard for democracy and open elections as Republicans who have use altered district lines
and other methods to fix elections,' said D.C. Statehood Green Party activist T.E. Smith. 'Hiding this stratagem in a bill for public
financing of campaigns makes it doubly shameful.'
'An obvious motivation behind HR 4694 is panic over a Green insurgency. The time is ripe for a non-corporate independent third
party, and many Democrats are worried,' added Mr. Smith.
The Green Party of Texas is committed to empowering citizens and fighting for fair ballot access laws for all who wish to participate
in our democracy by running for office. Texas Greens are confident that the citizens of Texas will see right through this shallow attempt by congressional Democrats to undermine our democracy, and will fight for fair elections.
