The House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Committee is set to meet at 1 p.m. today, and on the calendar is Senate Bill 20, Voter-Owned Elections.
The bill would expand the state’s matching-funds system to include the state treasurer in the 2012 election.
As I wrote here, the bill (and anything else using matching funds or “triggers” to expand the state’s campaign-finance scheme) is almost certainly a violation of the First Amendment. Check out my earlier story for the background.
And you may recall that last week, some fast action by grass-roots activist members of Americans for Prosperity killed a measure that would have added a lot more statewide races to the welfare rolls.
Even so, the clean-campaign crew is undeterred.
In poker, when you stay in a hand that you have no chance of winning — one you can’t even bluff your way through — it’s called throwing good money after bad.
Since S.B. 20 would certainly inspire a lawsuit, and it typically costs in the low- to mid-six figures to defend constitutional challenges in court, any lawmaker who votes for this bill is betting — no, throwing away — a half-million bucks of your tax dollars on a losing hand.
Is there enough common sense on Jones Street to know when to hold ’em, and know when to fold ’em?
