John Tierney: “I voted for the Shays-Meehan bill because it will eliminate soft money and the influence of soft money but it still…”

“I voted for the Shays-Meehan bill because it will eliminate soft money and the influence of soft money but it still, even after passage, preserves an element of the status quo and the current way that we do business. The Tierney substitute amendment proposes an alternative to the private money changes. It is called the clean money option. It is an approach that has already been passed into law in the State of Vermont by its legislature there and by the main ballot referendum. Under a clean money system, a candidate who agrees to forego private contributions including his or her own and accept spending limits receives a limited allocation to run their campaign from publicly financed clean elections funds. It is not a blank check. Participating candidates must meet all local ballot qualification requirements and gather a significant number of $5 contributions from the voters they seek to represent. Clean money campaign reform is both simple to understand and sweeping in scope. It is a voluntary system that meets the test of constitutionality under the Supreme Court's ruling in Buckley versus Valeo.”