del.icio.usIn a splintered ruling, the Supreme Court today struck down a Vermont law limiting campaign contributions and expenditures. Bonifaz responded,
The Court is as wrong today as it was 30 years ago when it first ruled on this matter in Buckley v. Valeo, striking down congressional campaign spending limits passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
Bonifaz pledged to fight for public financing:
As Massachusetts Secretary of State, I will press for state legislation that creates a system of full public funding of our elections coupled with voluntary campaign spending limits. I will also build and lead a coalition of secretaries of state calling for a constitutional amendment to make clear that mandatory campaign spending limits are entirely consistent with the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court's decision today was the latest in a long history of cases where practices that kept groups of people out of politics were first upheld, then finally struck down. Bonifaz founded the National Voting Rights Institute to work to eliminate the "Wealth Primary" that ensures politics is most accessible only to those who have money.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens stated that 'the time has come to overrule' the Court’s decision in Buckley. As Justice Stevens wrote: 'Just as a driver need not use a Hummer to reach her destination, so a candidate need not flood the airways with ceaseless sound-bites of trivial information in order to provide voters with reasons to support her.'
History will prove Justice Stevens right.
