Steering Committee Letter on Campaign Finance
By Stan - Date: 2003-02-08 09:33:36

The following letter was send to DNC members of the State Party regarding a recent astonishing pronouncement from National Chair McAuliffe supporting abandonment of public financing of campaigns.

An Open Letter to all Texas DNC Members

We read with amazement a statement issued by national Party chair Terry McAuliffe regarding the Party strategy in financing the upcoming Presidential campaigns.

“”Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe also said Friday that he is encouraging each Democratic Presidential candidate to consider skipping public financing and the spending limits that come with it in the primaries, as Bush did in the 2000 primaries.” “I think George Bush took it off the table as a political issue…we’ve got to make practical decisions”.

The Progressive Populist Caucus implores you to immediately take a stand on behalf of Texas Democrats that you condemn this recommendation. Public campaign financing is at the heart of reforms needed within our Party and our nation’s electoral process. We need MORE public financing, NOT LESS.

We want you to urge McAuliffe to support the adoption of creative GRASSROOTS fund raising efforts through the local Parties to obtain small donations from millions of Democrats rather than millions from a small number of nominal Democrats buying influence.

This is precisely why the American public discerns little difference between the two major parties today. It is an outrage that McAuliffe holds Bush’s campaign funding practices up as our model ! Democrats need to stand on principle and stand for reform in this area as one of our highest priorities, not “take it off the table”.

We want to know where you stand on this issue and what you will do about it on behalf of the people of the Party. Please respond with your answer.

We invite you to visit our web site at www.texaspopulists.com to familiarize yourself with what we stand for and are endeavoring to accomplish.

Respectfully,

Stan Merriman Chair
2338 Dryden Rd.
Houston, TX 77030