By Steve Levy
Newsday’s editorial against zombie candidates correctly pointed out that voters are being denied a choice when so many candidates for local office are candidates in name only and are basically mailing it in.
So many of them who feel they don’t have a chance are just party stalwarts who work at the Board of Elections or OTB and put their name on the ballot as a favor to the party chair.
A possible cure to this phenomenon would be a public financing system that would allow under-financed candidates to tap into a pool of untainted money and have a fighting chance in the election.
Who wants to run for office knowing they’ll be outspent 100-to-one by the opposition?
The irony is that Suffolk County had wisely adopted a public financing system a decade ago. Unfortunately, just as it was ready to take effect, Republicans in the county legislature, which then had a majority, voted to undo the reform.
When I tried to convince one of those Republican legislators to support public financing so he wouldn’t have to get on his hands and knees to party leaders and labor unions every two years for reelection, his response was telling.
“That may be true,” he said, “but why would I want to give money to my opponent to now make my race more competitive?”
There you go. The opposition to public financing is not really about the cost involved, but rather about the threat it poses to incumbents of both parties.
Simply from a cost perspective, I’ve always believed that it’s a wise investment for the public, since electing legislators who have more independence and who don’t have to rely on unions, contractors, or party leaders to get elected, will lead to lower budgets and lower taxes.
It may sound counterintuitive to conservative principles, but public financing systems that prohibit accepting contributions from unions and entities doing business with the government will actually result in less costly budgets. (We’re not talking about the failed system in New York City that doesn’t ban donations from the unions and contractors.)
At the very least, a properly structured public finance system would help put an end to zombie candidates.
Many folks want to run for public office but don’t wish to be the next sacrificial lamb.
Steve Levy is Executive Director of the Center for Cost Effective Government, a fiscally conservative think tank. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “On the Right Side Podcast.” Costeffectivegov@gmail.com