Big money in Illinois politics highlights need for public financing
The Chicago Sun-Times dove into the problems with Illinois’s campaign finance regulations, including the self-funding loophole, meddling in primaries, and dark money. The article quotes RFI Executive Director Alisa Kaplan on public financing programs and how they can be used to alleviate these problems.
“People acknowledge that money in politics is here to stay and that you actually need a critical mass of money to run a competitive election and to get your message out,” she said. “The concern is, yes, the amounts of money can get completely grotesque, but if we can enable candidates to run a competitive campaign, even if they can’t raise a kajillion dollars, if they can raise enough to get their message out, that could go a long way to restoring some balance to the system.”
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