Commentary—

Democracy, For What It’s Worth

By William A. Collins

 Run for office?

Tell me how;

I don’t own,

A fat cash cow.

Modern democracy, as any loyal reader of Prince Valiant will attest, sprang from the fertile minds of Icelanders around the turn of the first millennium. From there it spread to England through the good offices of King Arthur. The next millennium saw it take root worldwide. But like its shady partner, the market economy, democracy is often most favorably viewed from afar. Up close, it’s real messy.

Take Connecticut. Though self-touted as the Constitution State, truly contested elections here are rarer than rich men promoting the estate tax. Failure to get re-elected to state office nowadays means that you must have really screwed up. Big money, gerrymandering, and the perks of office all see to that. Indeed, even most screw-ups win re-election.

And don’t get your hopes up for reforming either the gerrymandering or those perks anytime soon. Legislators guard them with their life force. Their money machine though, is showing signs of stress. There have always been dedicated reformers lurking in the legislative underbrush, waiting for an opportunity to level the electoral playing field. For them John Rowland was a godsend. As no one before, he popularized the evils of political cash, both legal and crooked. He even woke the somnolent press to the dangers of tainted donations.

Enter a new Republican governor. After decades of implacable opposition to draining the big money out of politics, all at once it became expedient for the party to become a champion of reform. The governor managed this acrobatic political feat all in one day, leaving her grumbling legislators stumbling to catch up. It was breathtaking.

Bad enough that they had to put the clamps on contractors and lobbyists — the very lifeblood of politics — but to accept public financing?! How could they!? Fat cat contributors have always been the Republican ace in the hole in this mortal sport. Giving up that advantage seemed suicidal. It might then become necessary (horrors) to contest elections based on issues! Panic time indeed.

But not to worry. Legislative art saved the day. Instead of passing a single public financing law, the Democratic General Assembly passed two. Then, unable to resolve their differences, everyone went home, heaped high with contumely from the press.

Of course, that’s not going to be the end of it. The media, astonishingly, now has the bit between its teeth. Common Cause, Public Campaign, and other national reform groups also have Connecticut in their sights and don’t intend to let up. The Internet is abuzz with admonitions for members worldwide to badger poor Nutmeg lawmakers to finish their job.

But finishing such a job is never quite as easy as it sounds. There’s more jockeying for position going on than a Greco-Roman wrestling match. Democrats would like to squeeze one more election out of their friendly PACs, unions, and ad books. Republicans in turn would love to impoverish their opponents by denying those assets to the Dems immediately, but not kicking in the public financing until later. That would give wealthy GOP donors a chance to turn, briefly, the political tide.

Overall, though, this battle portends to result in the biggest election law reform in Connecticut since women got the vote. Only Maine and Arizona have preceded us, and both report blessed relief. Public financing’s wonders are also confirmed by the corporate frenzy to overturn it in those two states. What greater testimonial could anyone ask?

Columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.