Clean money repo men - political reform agency in Massachusetts has power to seize government-provided cars from corrupt politicians

Progressive, The, June, 2002 by John Nichols

Well, duh!

Finneran and his allies tried to gut the Clean Elections Law with a variety of legislative maneuvers last year, but Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift, a Republican, promised to veto the moves. So Finneran simply adopted the strategy of sitting on the money. Even though $23 million had been allocated to the state's Clean Elections Fund in 2000, Finneran used his iron-fist control of the legislature's lower house to prevent moves that would have allowed the money to be released to candidates.

The uncertainty about whether the funding would be available caused most candidates in Massachusetts to abandon the plan. A few relatively high-profile candidates refused to buckle, however. Tolman, a former state senator, followed all the proper procedures to qualify as a "clean money" candidate, secured the required 3,000 small contributions, and demanded the public financing grant that was due his campaign under the law.

Tolman and other "clean money" candidates joined Massachusetts Voters for Clean Elections and Common Cause Massachusetts in filing their landmark suit against the state.

Conscious that their new role as reformer repo men could put them in tenuous circumstances, Clean Elections Law advocates have acted judiciously. In making up lists of items for auction, Common Cause Massachusetts Executive Director Ken White said, "We're targeting things that have little or no value to the citizens. It does no harm to the taxpayers, who, after all, are the ones that passed this law."

Even as the auctioneer's hammer was being dusted off, Donnelly offered legislators an out. "With quick action, honorable men and women in the legislature can vote to release $23 million previously set aside in the Clean Elections Fund," he said. "This money has been sitting dormant in this fund, gathering interest and dust, since the summer of 2000.

The state legislature, with newfound leadership, can take the constitutionally mandated steps to stop this auction."

With Finneran standing firm, the auctions began. And reformers such as Green candidate Stein--who is well on her way to qualifying for "clean money"--are still eyeing the Speaker's desk and the parking spots of top legislators, some of which are said to be worth as much as $100,000 because of their prime locations. The weeks and months ahead could see some of the most remarkable sellathons ever witnessed in America.

In this everything-must-go moment, says Donnelly, people may be amazed by what appears on the auction block. However, not everything will be for sale. If all goes according to plan, he explains, "Democracy itself will no longer be sold to the highest bidder."

John Nichols writes about politics for The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, and for The Nation. He is the author of "Jews for Buchanan: Did You Hear the One About the Theft of the American Presidency?" (The New Press, 2001).