ACLU Calls On Legislators And The Governor To Fix Campaign Finance Law

HARTFORD, CT -- Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut (ACLU-CT) called on legislative leaders and the Governor to fix portions of Connecticut's Campaign Finance Reform ACT (CFRA) that a federal judge recently ruled unconstitutional. According to the letter, "[U.S. District Court] Judge Underhill's lengthy and well reasoned opinion will likely be upheld by the Court of Appeals because it rests on firm United States Supreme Court precedent." The ACLU-CT called on the legislature to act immediately to fix the constitutional defects in the Citizen Elections Program (CEP) to save publicly financed elections and the unnecessary public expense of an appeal.

In his decision, Judge Underhill clearly outlines the unconstitutional portions of the law that need to be changed. Changes required:

• All ballot-qualified candidates who meet relatively modest qualifying criteria must be allowed to fully participate in public funding on the same terms
• The additional grants to candidates triggered by either independent expenditures to defeat them or a big-spending opponent who opts out of public financing must be eliminated.
• When an advocacy group, non-candidate individual, or candidate not participating in CEP spend more than the participating candidates original grant, the expenditure trigger provision releases additional grant money to participating candidates. Doing so creates a disincentive for minor party candidates, independent groups, and individuals to spend money in political races because the money they spend will merely trigger more public resources for the major party candidates.

"Judge Underhill provided a blueprint for fixing the law to make it fair," said Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of the ACLU of Connecticut. "We urge the legislature to make these changes as expeditiously as possible to enable more people to participate in the democratic process and to save taxpayer money from needlessly being spent on an appeal."

The ACLU's lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of Connecticut's 2005 campaign finance law, which established a "Citizens' Election Program" to provide for public financing of campaigns for state legislative and executive offices beginning in 2008 for some offices and 2010 for other offices. The lawsuit charged that the system created unduly burdensome eligibility requirements that effectively excluded participation by minor party candidates.

In his ruling, Judge Underhill found that "the CEP imposes an unconstitutional, discriminatory burden on minor party candidates' First Amendment-protected right to political opportunity by enhancing participating major party candidates' relative strength beyond their past ability to raise contributions and campaign, without imposing any countervailing disadvantage to participating in the public funding scheme."

The ACLU-CT is also urging the legislature to amend CFRA to end the ban on campaign contributions by certain lobbyists, state contractors and their immediate family members. Although this ban withstood Judge Underhill's constitutional scrutiny, there is a strong likelihood that a pending appeal will result in a finding that the ban is also unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.

Attorneys on the case are Mike Lopez of the New York law firm Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C., Ben Sahl of the national ACLU and David McGuire of the ACLU of Connecticut. The lawsuit was filed against Jeffrey Garfield, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission, and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, on behalf of Michael DeRosa, the Green Party of Connecticut, the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, Elizabeth Gallo and Joanne Philips.