Public Financing is Not a Bad Thing

It's funny to see an amendment on repealing public financing appear on Florida's ballot just as public financing becomes such a hot issue. For me, the terrible prospect of Rick Scott becoming governor shows problem enough with letting elections go to the highest bidder. But there are plenty of places in America where public financing is celebrated, not denigrated.

There are issues, of course, and if the courts ultimately put an end to this, then so be it. But people running for office ought to have the public's interest as their top priority. This would do that. A system where the success of a candidate depends directly upon the financial support they can rally from outside parties who stand to gain from the actions of public officials is a system with the possibility of corruption built in from the start.

And people can come around on public financing. Just ask Bill McCollum. But he's dead to me now. I wonder if he now thinks it was right that his message could be drowned out by Rick Scott's millions.

But as much as I hate Scott, the truth is that Florida's most important political offices today are only attainable for the elite. You can make millions in the private sector, like Scott or Alex Sink, or you can build political power, as all three major Senate candidates this year have done. Not to go all teabagger on this, but there is a problem when the general public is so far removed from the political process.

Public financing has a cost, and I realize some have a problem with tax money being spent on people's personal ambitions. But then, we pay elected officials with public dollars, and I have always been glad for it. If the taxpayers aren't writing the checks, someone else will.

I don't want to repeal public financing. I am voting against Amendment 1.