Jack Carter on Government Reform

Stop the mauling of our Constitutional balance of powers

Consider public financing of federal campaigns

A: No. I saw an interesting proposal the other day and it was basically that no incumbent could ever raise any money. The only money that he or she would have to spend would be a matching amount that an opponent of theirs raised. So somebody not in office, a challenger could raise as much money as he could from anybody who wanted to give him any money, at any amount, and then the government would pay for the incumbent's matching money. It was an interesting idea because it eliminates the need for the incumbent to constantly be raising money. It eliminates the edge that the incumbent has because they're just the incumbent. The government only has to pay half of the campaign. And it eliminates any kind of restrictions on somebody that wants to finance their own campaign or get a million dollars from somebody to help him do anything. I would certainly not be against something like that.