BY FORMER GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS PAT QUINN
A major challenge facing political reformers these days is: how do we level the playing field and create fairer elections?
Passing real term limits on Congress would go a long way toward accomplishing this goal. By attacking the power of incumbency, term limits address the root cause of the fundraising inequalities that plague our system.
Fundraising power and dominance in elections come mainly from Political Action Committees, most of which represent corporate interests. These PACs, in order to maximize their dollars, contribute reliably and excessively to congressional incumbents.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, PACs spend around $500 million each cycle on congressional races, with over 90 percent of those dollars flowing to incumbents instead of challengers. (read more >>)
Reprinted with permission.
