Did you know that your CT tax dollars pay for campaign junk mail? [WLAD.com]

Article as it appeared on WLAD.com

Reforms are being offered by Republican legislative leaders to the state’s public financing system for campaigns. They claim the system has been compromised by loopholes and politically motivated changes in the law.

Republicans are proposing a reduction in all grants by 25-percent, denying grants to candidates running unopposed and enforcing rules barring contractors doing business with the state from donating to campaigns. When it comes to reducing the grants, Danbury State Senator Mike McLachlan said that most people don’t realize it’s taxpayer money paying for the junk mail that comes to their mailbox during the campaign.

McLachlan says money has trumped sunlight in Connecticut — a state which was once a model for clean elections. He says the backdoor was opened wide to bring more money into the campaigns, regular donations that could be shifted into taxpayer funded campaigns.