About 85% of legislative candidates used public funds in 2018, making Connecticut’s elections program a national model, Common Cause reports.
citizens election program
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Best of 2019: Senate takes late-night jab at elections watchdog
With barely 60 seconds of debate, the Senate voted unanimously late Tuesday night to transform an innocuous elections bill into a rebuke of the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
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They love public financing. The oversight, not as much.
Campaign laws are about transparency, but the Senate reminded Connecticut once again this year that the process by which they are created is opaque.
Posted inPolitics
Senate takes late-night jab at elections watchdog
With barely 60 seconds of debate, the Senate voted unanimously late Tuesday night to transform an innocuous elections bill into a rebuke of the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
Posted inPolitics
SEEC says campaigns can’t pay for child care
A ruling by the State Elections Enforcement Commission that child care is not a permissible campaign expense prompted an immediate call by Gov. Ned Lamont for a change in state law.
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Erin Stewart, Eva Bermudez Zimmerman win public financing
Democrat Eva Bermudez Zimmerman and Republican Erin Stewart, both 31-year-old women challenging their party’s convention-endorsed candidates for lieutenant governor, cleared a financial hurdle Wednesday by winning approval of public-financing grants.
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On 8th try, Steve Obsitnik wins grant of $1.35 million
With one month until the primary, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Obsitnik won approval Wednesday of his $1.35 million grant from the state’s voluntary program of publicly financing campaigns, the Citizens’ Election Program.
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Obsitnik opens ad campaign, public financing delayed again
Updated at 5:30 p.m.
Unwilling to wait further for a long-delayed public financing grant, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Obsitnik is using $100,000 of his own money to begin a video advertising campaign on cable television and social media, his campaign said Thursday.
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SEEC defers action on campaign grant for Obsitnik
The State Elections Enforcement Commission deferred action again Thursday on Republican gubernatorial contender Steve Obsitnik’s application for public financing while acknowledging its probe into Obsitnik’s campaign continues.
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Despite investigation, Obsitnik not giving up on public financing
The Republican gubernatorial campaign of Steve Obsitnik said Friday that the investigation opened Wednesday by the State Elections Enforcement Commission does not rule out eventual approval of its application for $1.35 million in public financing under the Citizens’ Election Program. But Obsitnik’s campaign manager also conceded it has no contingency if the money is not approved in coming weeks.
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SEEC investigating Obsitnik campaign’s finances
The State Elections Enforcement Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to investigate whether the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Obsitnik has illegally raised campaign contributions or improperly coordinated activities with FixCT., Inc., an independent expenditure committee promoting Obsitnik.
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Seek and ye shall find… but at SEEC, it can take a while
Steve Obsitnik’s campaign for governor will go before the State Elections Enforcement Commission on Wednesday morning to make its fourth try since May 23 for approval of $1.35 million in public financing for his Republican primary in August. Two GOP competitors, Mark Boughton and Timothy Herbst, also are on the agenda again.
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SEEC to Boughton, Herbst & Obsitnik: Come back next week
The three gubernatorial candidates seeking public financing failed to win approval of their grants Wednesday by the State Elections Enforcement Commission, the result of deficiencies in their applications for $1.35 million each to wage a primary. All three are Republicans. They will have another chance next week.
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Stefanowski: Crowded field makes public financing too expensive
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski is challenging his many opponents to drop out of the voluntary public financing program that pays qualifying candidates $1.25 million for a primary and $6 million for the general election. That probably won’t impress many delegates at nominating conventions, where a candidate’s ability to qualify for public funds is a sign of credibility. But his call underscores how expensive this crowded election might be for taxpayers.
Posted inPolitics
An unlikely rebuke of the General Assembly over election laws
With a blandly titled “informational forum,” a Democratic state senator choreographed an unusual rebuke of the General Assembly and its leadership Friday, eliciting testimony about the systematic weakening of campaign finance laws in Connecticut, most recently by provisions inserted into the bipartisan budget adopted in special session last fall.