The High Cost of the Public Office
Proxmire, Ellen
the HIGH COST of Public Office by ELLEN PROXMIRE The old saw that "politics makes -*- strange bedfellows" was affirmed in the national legislature in the haste to adjourn the 1966 session of...
...Shapp himself admitted that he had been accused of buying the election, but countered with the statement, 'I'm not buying, I'm selling myself...
...According to Newsweek, "he drummed home his anti-boss theme in some 7,000 spot radio announcements, thirty-four half-hour prime-time television shows and heavy newspaper advertising...
...To illustrate how the problem has grown, Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860 without making a single speech, or leaving his home town of Springfield, Illinois...
...There is urgent need to deal seriously with the important problem of financing political campaigns...
...if a taxpayer may now earmark part of his tax payment for Presidential campaign costs, why not for something else...
...It is my conviction that the politicians from Capitol Hill to the White House are to blame...
...So in the summer of 1962 we began the long road toward achieving this goal...
...But if the other contenders cannot come up with the money they are for all practical purposes kept off the air...
...It was a great start, but a long way from $200,000...
...But unless further measures are enacted, the financial problems of campaigning for political office may be infinitely worsened...
...New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller reportedly spent $5 million in his successful bid for re-election, with the Democrats mounting a campaign costing $1 million...
...This is the time for citizens to demand genuine reform...
...Long's rider is designed to provide Federal funds from personal income tax payments to the major political parties for the conduct of their Presidential campaigns, yet its passage has implications far beyond the races for the Presidency...
...The way things stand now, the dollar sign looms as the most important qualification a man can have to run for office—not whether he is dedicated, has great ability, or high character...
...Fourth, Constitutional questions have been raised which require further study—for example, Congress alone is empowered by the Constitution to determine how Federal tax money is spent...
...Upon selling hours of time to one candidate all a broadcaster must do is agree to make similar time available to other contenders...
...And it has been estimated that in Illinois, Republican Senator Charles Percy spent $2.5 million to unseat incumbent Democrat Paul Douglas...
...Responsibility for failure to enact such laws falls squarely on the shoulders of the elected men in Washington...
...What does a politician do when someone offers him cash (to avoid reporting the contribution) ? How does a campaign committee chairman handle a generous contribution from one who insists on giving his check directly to the Senator (illegal under most circumstances in Wisconsin, but often done so the giver can know that the candidate is aware of the gift) ? How does one handle promises of money, and what does a candidate do with corporation checks...
...a Chicago party with about 100 people present at $50 a person...
...There was a Wisconsin-style buffet in Washington—scheduled for outdoors— at $25 a person...
...Since seventy-five per cent of the total spent in elections comes from contributors of large amounts ($500 or more), there might well be a tax incentive to stimulate small contributions...
...Everything imaginable went wrong...
...Early in 1966 headlines inside and outside of Pennsylvania shouted the story of a "bought" election...
...The two national parties together spent $20 million in an effort to get their respective Presidential candidates elected...
...We felt that our 1964 campaign for his re-election would require a minimum of $200,000—a huge sum of money, but still modest in comparison with the amounts needed in some of the more populous states...
...I have worked in six statewide campaigns in Wisconsin, and have lived through the agony of raising money for my candidate husband, William Proxmire, Senator from Wisconsin since 1957...
...Five—Starting with the hastily-conceived Long amendment, Congress can perfect the machinery it sets up for public involvement in campaign financing...
...In a post-1966 election comment, columnist Clayton Fritchey wrote: "As usual the official reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures will disclose only a fraction of the total involved...
...A fairly reliable rule of thumb is to multiply the admitted sum by four or five...
...The Federal Corrupt Practices Act defines a political contribution as an individual gift, subscription, loan, or "anything of value...
...This is true, at least to some extent, but more essential than any of these, in my experience, is the ability to raise money...
...A good candidate might possess all the traditional political assets, but without the necessary money he will most certainly remain unknown, unwanted, and politically unemployed...
...Election campaign costs climbed to new peaks in 1966, and though everyone seems to agree it cost too much either to win or to lose, no one really knows how much was spent...
...For something of substance to ask for from the Ninetieth Congress, here are some suggestions which could bring a solution to the scandal of political fund-raising: One—A Registry of Election Finance could be established...
...So far only a handful of elected officials or their employes have done so voluntarily...
...Three—Television stations could give candidates more free time and limit the number of paid political broadcasts a candidate could buy...
...But we picked up the pieces, someone counted the money, and our campaign chest held $18,000...
...Congress in the past two decades has shamefully neglected to act on a single one of seventeen proposals designed to destroy the legal sham that governs campaign expenditures today...
...Since not more than ten per cent of the American people ever contribute to the campaign costs of a political candidate, the reform of laws within the existing framework of giving is an immediate necessity...
...and all contributions would be honestly reported...
...and other dinners in Milwaukee that raised about $60,000...
...It was not until July, 1965, that our political fundraising was over—for a brief time...
...Fifth, and perhaps most important, the amendment does not state that no other contribution would be accepted...
...It is now up to Congress to refine it if true election campaign reform is to be achieved...
...If all taxpayers followed this procedure, as much as $100 million could be made available to the major national parties...
...Four—Full public disclosure of their financial interests and income by all members of Congress and by top Congressional employes would be the best possible assurance to the people that their representatives are not engaging in affairs which pose a conflict of interest and are not receiving income from questionable sources...
...However, published figures (only a fraction of what was actually spent) stun the senses with their scandalous size...
...That was three years of seeking money —a long time, a lot of money, and a terrible burden for a family not only involved in political life, but in all the problems that every family has...
...Until recent years, however, rarely has such a large proportion of campaign funds tended to come from so few sources...
...One Shapp pamphlet went directly to 1.6 million voters at a cost of some $80,000...
...There would be a limitation on the allowable number of committees...
...Congress finally disallowed this deduction during the 1966 session...
...We finished the campaign with a victory, but, even after all the careful planning, a big debt...
...Wisconsin newspapers have often "commented that the laws governing reporting of political contributions are not worth the paper on which they are printed...
...Each candidate or committee spending $1,000 a year or more in a Federal election would be required to file a detailed report with the Registry four times a year, revealing the full identification and address of each contributor...
...Barely were the deposits made before we set to work on the next project, a dinner in Milwaukee...
...She wrote "One Foot in Washington: The Perilous Life of a Senator's Wife...
...State laws are similarly worded, but they are frequently, or even consistently, violated, ignored, or not enforced...
...The principal obstacle to reform in this area of campaign spending is the fact that most people just do not realize the vital need for regulation, for general participation, and for broader understanding when it comes time to raise money in a campaign year...
...It does cost money.'" In the general election it was estimated by some sources that he spent $4 million trying to win a job which pays $45,000 a year...
...That September almost 1,000 Democrats and a few independents paid $50 a plate for a $3.75 turkey dinner...
...In addition, the law forbids contributions by any corporation or labor organization (union treasury money...
...Sound, enforceable laws would make it easier, rather than more difficult, for each candidate to run his campaign...
...Evidence can be found in my own personal experience...
...Then there was a New York reception that raised about $5,000...
...Despite these grave flaws, this hastily passed legislation does insure a broader base of political giving, in itself a healthy development...
...The bill and the amendment were passed and signed by the President...
...A freshly-aroused public interest in response to revelations of recent election costs, the program book device, and the accusations that Senator Dodd used campaign cash for personal expenditures, might conceivably force politicians to be more severe about' policing themselves...
...This would prevent well-financed candidates and political organizations of any party from monopolizing the airwaves...
...It is clear that this new law is only a beginning, however...
...This would put each campaign on a fairer basis and would relieve the inevitable sense of worry that hovers over every politician as he faces the chore of raising money for his campaign...
...A significant amendment concerning funds for financing Presidential campaign expenses, introduced by Senator Russell Long, Louisiana Democrat and Majority whip, was tacked on to the so-called "Christmas Tree" bill (which provides for a change in rules for taxing foreign investors...
...The seeds of reform have been sown...
...Recent disclosures of "advertising" in political fund-raising dinner program books as a gimmick to acquire large sums of money from corporations, and the furor over Senator Thomas J. Dodd's testimonial dinners serve to emphasize the need for concrete action...
...It is up to the politicians to act to dispel the clouds of corruption that hang over so many elections...
...I feel strongly the need for greater understanding by each citizen of this problem, the need for concrete action stimulated by Presidential leadership, and the need for a tougher Federal corrupt practices law—the law that governs .campaign spending...
...Political campaigns in general will probably never be the same...
...The two major parties spent a total of $150,000 in the campaign...
...A century later, John F. Kennedy traveled 40,000 miles to deliver 360 speeches...
...Milton Shapp, an amateur and virtually unELLEN PROXMIRE is the wife of Senator William Proxmire, Wisconsin Democrat, and served as his campaign manager in two successful elections...
...Thus with the election fourteen months away we had a campaign kitty of about $55,000—one quarter of the way home...
...If it requires great fortunes to run for office, the vast majority of Americans are automatically excluded from serving their country, unless they mortgage their future performance in office by soliciting funds from big vested financial interests...
...As Jack Gould commented recently in The New York Times, "Much of the whopping costs of politics on television is by design and lies in the weakness of the [Federal] Communications Act that exempts paid political broadcasts from the criterion of equal time...
...Elections have long been "bought," in the sense that it takes big money to run campaigns...
...For example, the present Corrupt Practices Act limits total annual contributions to national political committees to $3 million, yet some estimates of the Johnson and Goldwater campaigns run as high as $55 million...
...Political program books with the inevitable advertising have been a mainstay of local, state, and national party financing for years...
...Too often their statements are all too bland, and too often those who are primarily responsible for shaping legislation in this sphere merely sweep it into the dust bin...
...Financial pressures are frequently so acute that even the most ethical public officials are exposed to the temptation of accepting questionable money to meet the crushing costs of winning elections...
...Third, no reference is made in the amendment to the election of members of Congress...
...As the campaign began in earnest, there came individual contributions, help from the . Wisconsin Democratic Party and the National Senatorial Campaign Committee...
...In addition, a listing of the total amount of •money received would be required, along with an itemized statement showing how it was spent and a record of unpaid bills...
...known politician, defeated the Democratic organization candidate for the Pennsylvania gubernatorial nomination by spending about $2 million, $1 million of which was his own money...
...This Federal money could therefore become a huge slush fund with individuals of wealth still allowed to influence government by giving substantial amounts to a Presidential candidate...
...I worry, too, about operating within an unenforceable law...
...Two—A proposal made by President Theodore Roosevelt more than fifty years ago could be enacted into law...
...And often that dollar sign is tainted...
...In the Reagan-Brown contest in California the two candidates spent at least $2 million each...
...Basically, the Long amendment provides that in 1967 on the 1040 income tax form there will be an opportunity for each taxpayer to earmark $1 of his tax ($2 on joint returns) to finance the Presidential contest in 1968...
...Because the laws are not explicit, because the area of campaign spending is muddied by confusion, pressure, and shadowy suspicion, the problems concerning the sources of money a politician receives occur frequently...
...In the midst of the enormous effort to plan fund-raising functions, there is the constant worry about compromising the candidate, often unknowingly, or offending a contributor...
...Limits on allowable spending would then be specific...
...The subject of campaign money, how it is raised, and what is done with it has become a national scandal...
...Each time the cost of running has mushroomed, and I see no end in sight unless something is done...
...The rain poured down that night...
...Illinois' former Senator Paul Douglas has said that in this way, "Campaigns would be adequately financed, candidates freed of any obligation, and the public protected...
...Campaign expenditures would be limited to these amounts...
...He lost...
...He felt then that the best method of financing campaigns was for the Federal treasury to pay to the major candidates for Federal office a specific amount—such as ten cents for each prospective voter...
...I deeply believe that the will of the people cannot be translated into action until we have conscientious candidates who do not have to mortgage their homes and their political souls to get elected...
...And not until recent years, the years of television campaigning, have the costs of running for office been so staggering...
...Criticism revolves around the following: First, reforms in the soliciting and reporting of contributions were not touched...
...the HIGH COST of Public Office by ELLEN PROXMIRE The old saw that "politics makes -*- strange bedfellows" was affirmed in the national legislature in the haste to adjourn the 1966 session of Congress...
...A common belief in the 1960's about politicians is that the requirements for success are hard work, a handsome face, a good television image, and a likable personality...
...Second, the effect on "third," or all minor parties could well be devastating under the provisions of the law...
...Corporations buying an "ad" were allowed to deduct the cost as a business expense, and were thus able to make a substantial contribution (as high as $15,000 a page) to a candidate or a party and write it off at income tax time...
...members and numbers of committees would be clearly defined...
Vol. 31 • February 1967 • No. 2
