Kean cool to clean elections
By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com ReporterBLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts’s decision to kill the Clean Elections Program wasn’t met with regret by Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr.
Although Kean voted for the previous incarnations of the pilot program, he said that, even if it’s retooled for 2011, he’s not sure whether he’ll support it again.
"I never agreed that just because there was a Clean Elections program last year there had to be one this year. But clearly we have to ensure that the program is constitutional.”
Kean said that the program gave too much money to candidates, a problem that was actually remedied in the now-deceased 2009 version. But he also said that, while long-shot candidates were able to qualify for funds in one of the two non-competitive districts it featured in 2007, it didn’t help them.
“Is this anything but an incumbency protection program? That’s a question that needs to be answered,” he said. “If that’s the end effect, it doesn’t serve the people of the state well at all. In the case of the program, the people everyone thought was going to win going into it won.”
Still, Kean said he’s will to look at a new bill for 2011, although he’d be happier of campaign finance reform proponents took bolder measures.
“If we want real campaign finance reform, why not a ban on wheeling, a ban on pay-to-play?,’ he said.
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