Fellow former Georgetown County Democratic Party chairman Richard Smith dissects Jill Kelso's "
" for what it is. Richard asked me to hold off sharing this before it was
In response to Jill Kelso's commentary regarding the Clean Elections Act, which has been introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate, I find it appalling that any one who considers themselves as a candidate for public office would not be open to the merits of the Clean Elections Act and limits on campaign financing.
Currently, seven states and two cities have Clean Elections, or full public financing, for some political offices.
Three states-Arizona, Connecticut, and Maine-provide full public financing for all statewide and legislative races.
These laws have been approved through a combination of the ballot process and by legislatures.
Apparently Ms. Kelso knows more than her party's Presidential nominee, John McCain, when it comes to election financing.
In 1998, Arizona passed Clean Elections and the following is an excerpt from a press release announcing Senator John McCain's support of this measure: The country's foremost advocate for campaign finance reform, U.S. Senator John McCain, has announced his support for Arizona's Clean Elections law, one of the country's most comprehensive public financing systems, by taping TV and radio public service announcements that will be broadcast in Arizona.
In the ads, McCain says, "For years, special interests and big money have had a negative influence on our local, state and national elections. Clean Elections changes that.
"In 1998, you voted for the Clean Elections Act and restored voter confidence in the electoral process. Clean Elections works well to overcome the influence of special interests. It gives Arizonans the power to create good government. Keep supporting Clean Elections."
Additionally, Ms. Kelso apparently knows more about campaign financing than another prominent Republican, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed the California Fair Elections Act (CFEA) measure that will appear on the June 2010 ballot creating a pilot project in 2014 and 2018 to provide voluntary public financing for candidates running for Secretary of State who qualify and comply with strict spending prohibitions.
A cross section of national organizations have endorsed clean elections laws, including the League of Women Voters, the National Council of Churches, Sierra Club, National Organization of Women, the League of Conservation Voters, Americans for Campaign Reform and the League of Young Voters to name a few.
Also in 2007 many national newspapers voiced editorial support for clean election laws including USA Today, The Baltimore Sun, the New York Times, the Orlando Sentinel and the Boston Globe.
A study released in September of 2008, "A NEW KIND OF POLITICS: Citizens' Election Program" opening politics to Connecticut's citizens concluded that the new public financing for campaigns program not has only removed the deleterious effects of special interest political contributions but opened up state politics to an entirely new class of people: Citizens."
Ms. Kelso has used this opportunity to attack Democrats on accountability and transparency. However, perhaps because she is new to the area, she lacks the political perspective to appreciate that several years ago the House Republican Caucus voted to close all their caucus meetings, while the House Democrats refused to do the same and voted to keep all Democratic caucus meetings open to the public and the press.
Rep. Miller was one of first to co-sponsor a House bill that required more roll call votes and transparency which Ms. Kelso indicated during the campaign that she also supported.
I do have to wonder if the Clean Election Act had been a Republican initiative in South Carolina would her reaction to this legislation be the same. You just can't have it both ways.
The public deserves to know how campaigns are financed. Unfortunately for the citizens of this state, I doubt very seriously if the bill will get consideration.
As our Representative, Vida Miller will continue to embrace ideas and concepts that make campaign financing more accountable to the public.
I am not surprised at Ms. Kelso's reluctance to do the same. Her campaign received thousands of dollars of financing through 527's which ironically are not accountable to the public as to the source of funding or how it is spent.
A 2008 campaign youtube clip shows Sen. Cain speaking against 527's in which he states, "they are distorting the entire political process and need to be outlawed."
Also, her campaign received thousands of dollars from out of state funding sources financed by Howard Rich, whose involvement in South Carolina politics involves three main prongs:
1. Bypassing state contribution limits by using numerous LLC's to fund political candidates in local races.
2. Funneling even more money into SC campaigns from Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere through a network of wealthy associates.
3. Establishing and funding "grass-roots" voucher lobbying groups in South Carolina to give the appearance of support for his agenda in our state.
Howard Rich's substantial involvement in South Carolina politics and the methods used to support his private school voucher plan have profound implications for South Carolina's government, our public schools, and the integrity of our state's political processes.
It is bad enough that Howard Rich and his gang of social engineers want to use South Carolina and its children as a social experiment; however, it is inexcusable that Ms. Kelso blindly parrots his propaganda regarding election funding for the sole purpose of keeping his, and his friends and lackeys, donations coming to her.
In that regard, it is interesting to note that over $10,000 of the New York City financing of Ms. Kelso's campaign was donated after the period by which it would have had to be publicly disclosed before the election.
CNN's Lou Dobbs summed up this concept of Clean Elections in his book by saying "Over the years I've examined dozens of ideas and proposals to weaken the grip of big money and special interests in our electoral and legislative processes.
"I've come to the conclusion that the only way we'll ever see their power substantially diminished, and the common good and national interest fully represented in Washington, is through the complete public financing of all elections.
"Lobbying, campaigns, and elections are all about money. And in this case, we have to meet power with power. Only one group of people has more money than corporate America and special interests: taxpayers.
"I love the idea of our elected officials being beholden to public money and the public interest rather than to corporate America and special interests." -- CNN's Lou Dobbs, from his book, The War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War on the American Dream and How to Fight Back (2006)
Vincent is married to Amy Sheheen. They have three young boys -- twins Austin and Joseph and youngest son Anthony. All three go to the same Kershaw County public school that Vincent attended over twenty-five years ago.
The petition to support a constitutional amendment establishing "high quality education" as our standard for public education instead of "a minimally adequate education" has reached 50,000 signatures.
