Introduction

[Joe Goldman <jgoldman@nipc.org>]

I can't say I have a great deal of direct experience with money and politics beyond spending some time working in the mayor's office of a major city. Two observations:

- First, my professional commitment is to providing citizens with a meaningful role in public decision making and governance. Campaign finance, I believe, plays a significant role in decreasing citizens influence, but it is only one part of the picture. In my experience, the problem isn't just that people are alienated by their lack of power in influencing elections--it is that they don't have any way to impact government beyond elections.

- Second, on the municipal level it seems to me that large funders have a greater impact in terms of their sponsorship and funding of programs, rather than funding electoral campaigns. In other words, municipal governments tend to be so strapped for funding for important programs that they become indepted to funders trying to get money for programs and not elections.