Campaign Finance Talk the Voice of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network February 2002
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Michigan Campaign Finance Network Campaign Finance Talk The Voice of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network February 2002 Gubernatorial campaign finance reports: Shays-Meehan What you see, and what you don’t debate Feb. 12 he first gubernatorial campaign “issue ads” in the 2000 Supreme Court peaker Dennis Hastert has finance reports of the 2002 campaigns. announced that the Shays- election cycle summarize S T • “Independent expenditure” campaigns Meehan campaign finance fundraising through December spending hundreds of thousands of dol- reform bill will be debated in the 31, 2001, and were filed on January lars and financed by few wealthy indi- U.S. House of Representatives on 31st. Summaries are shown in the fol- viduals have marked recent elections February 12 with the vote scheduled lowing table: (see “Personal PACs” on pages 4-5 in for later in the week. A majority of Contributions & Receipts Expenditures Balance the members of the House signed a Dick Posthumus $ 1,006,671 $ 207,803 $ 798,869 discharge petition to bring the John Schwarz 115,025 39,759 75,266 House counterpart to the McCain- Jim Blanchard 1,028,030 388,804 639,226 Feingold bill to the House floor. David Bonior 864,670 183,755 680,915 Jennifer Granholm 2,843,510 794,818 2,048,692 It is hard to say what the outcome Alma Wheeler Smith 129,797 100,859 28,938 of the vote will be. There will surely be attempts to introduce poison pill As of February 4th, only David Bonior this newsletter). amendments to the bill, and the has filed for public match funding (in weak alternative Ney-Wynn bill • The Posthumus Leadership Fund probably will be introduced as a the amount of $473,000), although all (renamed The Leadership Fund in diversionary tactic. Nonetheless, the other candidates except Jennifer September 2001) had raised $870,000 Enron debacle has raised the nation- Granholm have suggested that they will by October of 2001, but unlike other al consciousness about the insidious apply for public funds. Granholm has years and other leadership PACs, it was influence of money in politics and not indicated her plans. Those candi- not spending money on contributions to this gives Congress a chance to take dates who accept public funding are lim- other candidates’ committees. The ited to spending $2 million from their Leadership Fund had spent $560,500, a stand of conscience. The bill candidate committee in each election. including $91,000 for payroll and would kill the parties’ soft money $357,000 on campaign consultants slush funds and ban bogus issue Candidates Bonior, Posthumus, advertising by unions and corpora- Schwarz and Wheeler Smith filed their Linder and Associates, Dickerson and Govan and the Sterling Group. tions who are otherwise prohibited reports electronically. Candidates from using treasury money for elec- Blanchard and Granholm did not, mak- What is the bottom line? These cam- tion activity. ing analysis of their reports consider- paign finance reports show only a frac- ably more difficult. tion of the money that will be raised and This bill is not a complete solution spent in this year’s gubernatorial pri- to the campaign finance morass, but Those who would handicap the race there are times in politics when it is based on fundraising should be advised mary and general elections. There will be public match funds, parallel “inde- wise to take half a loaf. Call or to keep in mind that considerable spend- pendent expenditure” campaigns and email your member of Congress and ing in contemporary campaigns is not unreported issue ad campaigns. More let him or her know how you feel part of the candidate committees and importantly, these figures provide no about the bill. Phone numbers and can be entirely off the books. Consider insight on the candidates’ positions on addresses can be found on these facts: issues in a year when the state faces www.house.gov. • Millions were spent on unreported pivotal tax, fiscal and service decisions. Campaign Finance Talk • 1 Campaign Finance Talk with... Joe Schwarz State Sen. Schwarz discusses his run to be governor & campaign finance reform his is the third in the series of nomic cycle in January 2003. The FY And some of the most financially sound interviews with Michigan’s 2003 state budget that goes into effect in Medicaid providers are saying they just T 2002 gubernatorial candidates. October 2002 is going to be the most can’t continue because this is such a los- difficult to put together that we have ing proposition. One of the biggest tasks Q. Why are you running to be seen in many years. The Senate Fiscal for the new governor will be restructur- governor? Agency indicates that if we just roll ing Medicaid. I think it is structurally A. There needs to be a moderate voice things over from the current fiscal year, flawed. We have to take a look at the in the Republican Party. The interests the general fund would be in deficit by Medicaid pharmaceutical coverage and that control the apparatus of the $880 million and the school aid fund physicians’ costs and hospital costs. The Medicaid mental health program is in Republican Party, in more ways than would be in deficit nearly $500 million. trouble. I could go on and list problem one, are single-issue interests. I don’t So there are some big problems out after problem with Medicaid. think you can win statewide with that there. There are going to have to be sig- kind of structure. All the polling data nificant cuts across the board. There will I’ve seen say you can’t. The most recent be cuts in areas where we haven’t had to polls show 47% of voters leaning make cuts, at least not in the last decade. Democrat to independent. The I’m talking about K-12 education, the Republican numbers are down to about community colleges and the universities. 38% leaning Republican to independent. The new governor is going to have a That is a 180-degree change from the very difficult job, because he or she isn’t way things were four or six or eight going to be able to give everybody years ago. That tells you something everything they want. The governor is about the Republican Party as an organi- going to have to make hard decisions to zation. It also tells you something I defend the well being of the people of learned with the McCain primary effort the state of Michigan and defend the in early 2000: the biggest political party basic services provided by the state. in Michigan is independent. The number Q. As a physician and a legislator, of voters on the left who are attached at what about the health area? Can we Q. With all this budgetary pressure, the hip to the Democratic Party, and the afford to cut any more from Medicaid declining revenues and cuts in educa- number of voters on the right who are reimbursements? tion and health care, is it prudent fis- attached at the hip to the Republican cal management to continue with the Party is relatively small. The largest A. If you just roll things over from 2002 tax rollbacks? number can be labeled independent tick- to 2003, we’ll need an additional $100 million because our Medicaid match et splitters. I am running to give those A. One of the first things I would do as independents a voice. requirement is going up by that much. This is an area where the states are com- governor, if it hasn’t been done already, Q. We’re in a difficult budget situation ing together to tell the Congress that we would be to put as much pressure as in Michigan. How will you bring bal- are in pretty dire fiscal circumstances possible on the Legislature to stop the ance to the state’s budget as governor? and we just can’t afford an increase of rollbacks of one tenth of one percent in that magnitude. I believe, in spite of personal income tax and the Single A. It’s been said by some of the self- well-intentioned efforts, we have chroni- Business Tax for two years. That would appointed pundits around the state that cally under-funded Medicaid. With state help by about $250 million dollars per anyone who wants to be governor of revenues declining and the general eco- year. It doesn’t solve the whole prob- Michigan starting in January 2003 has to nomic slow-down, we’re going to see lem, obviously, but it certainly helps to be nuts. The economy is still going to be Medicaid rolls increasing with no way to solve the problem. This has to be done. in difficult shape. Even if there is a handle them. The hospitals and health I know the hard-core supply-siders bounce in the economy in the second providers across the board are screaming always feel that there should be more and third quarters of calendar year 2002, because they are losing money on every tax cuts to provide economic stimulus the Research Seminar on Quantitative Medicaid patient they see. You have and they won’t buy it. But you get to a Economics in Ann Arbor indicates we some of the Medicaid managed care point — and we are there — where you will still be in a low point in the eco- organizations in huge financial trouble. endanger people and you endanger serv- 2 • Campaign Finance Talk ices that the state is required by law to the most money. candidates judged by their peers to be provide, if you don’t have the revenues.