State senator would like to see it happen
A voluntary system, he said, would free candidates from raising money so they could focus on getting their message out to voters.
"I find it a bit distasteful and nearly obscene that people are spending $100,000 to get elected to a job that pays $15,000," said Kessler, D-Marshall.
During the legislative session that begins Jan. 11, Kessler's committee will consider a pilot project that would allow candidates to use public money to run their 2008 political campaigns if they agree to abide by certain rules. Kessler said he isn't sure if the pilot would be used for judicial or legislative candidates.
The Legislature has been considering variations on such a plan since 2002, but Kessler said it may have a better chance next session because of publicity surrounding political-corruption scandals. For example, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay is under indictment in Texas on charges of illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate donations to 2002 legislative candidates.
"It's been successful in many other states," Kessler said. "It is not mandatory. Those folks that choose to do it actually had a very high success rate getting elected."
"I really think the American public is sick and tired of elections being about donors and not voters, and they do want clean elections," said Rick Bielke, communications director for Public Campaign, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Washington, D.C.
Locally, Sen. Mike Oliverio told The Dominion Post that using public funds to pay for the campaigns of politicians could be costly. "You've got 134 seats in the Legislature," he said. "It could be very expensive to the citizens."
"I'm not sure the public wants to pay for campaigns," Oliverio said.
Delegate Cindy Frich told The Dominion Post that she sees advantages to publicly funding campaigns, but also see drawbacks. "Raising money is very difficult, so public funding is a tempting concept," Frich said. "I've always been outspent."
Frich said giving money to campaigns gives politicians a voice and therefore contributes to free speech, but she also has concerns about protecting taxpayer money. "If we got into funding all races, I don't know how much money that would take," she said.
Kevin Leydon, an associate professor of political science at WVU, said lawmakers who support public funding for campaigns need to consider the publicity advantage incumbent politicians have over their challengers.
Challengers inherently need more money to have their message heard, he said. To keep races fair, the state would have to consider giving them more money.
A proposed plan
Kessler said his committee likely would use a previous year's bill as a model for the West Virginia legislation.
But a coalition of groups supporting publicly funded campaigns will have someone introduce a new bill, said spokeswoman Julie Archer. Citizens Action Group, environmental groups, the ACT Foundation, AFL-CIO and the Council of Churches are proposing a system for legislative candidates.
Under their proposal, candidates in single-member House districts would have to get $5 donations from 100 people to qualify to receive $7,500 in public money for a primary and an additional $7,500 for a general election. If they choose to accept public money, they could not accept any more donations or spend any of their own money, Archer said.
If the candidate was outspent by an opponent not participating in the publicly funded system, he or she could receive more money, up to three times their original allotment. The amount would vary according to how much the opponent spent.
Candidates in multimember House districts and senators, because they represent more people, would have to obtain more $5 donations and would receive more public money.
The amount of donations and spending allotments would vary by district.
House candidates also could raise up to $2,000 and Senate candidates $5,000 in $100 "seed money" contributions during the period before a campaign when they are deciding whether to run.
The coalition doesn't want a pilot project before enactment. Their bill would go into effect in 2010 for single-member House districts and in 2012 for other legislative candidates.
"The idea for delaying it is to get it in place and have time to work out the rules and regulations and allow time for money to build up into the fund," Archer said.
"Legislators will have to decide this is something they want to do," she said. "Once they decide that, they will figure out a way to fund it."
Can it work?
Secretary of State Betty Ireland supports any measure that would encourage more people to run for office, but has no position on specific proposals because she has not reviewed them, said her chief of staff, Ben Beakes.
There have been technical problems with previous bills due to their campaign-finance reporting requirements, Beakes said. Reporting must be consistent with current law, he said.
"The first priority of this office is, 'Is it a bill we can administer?'" Beakes said.
Ireland does not plan to propose her own publicly financed campaign measure, Beakes said.
However, her office is working on legislation to make state laws reflect 31 counties' switch to electronic voting.