Re: July 14 news story.
I am concerned that too much stock is put into which candidate raises the most money. In our current system, the only way to run a competitive campaign is to court big donors, whether they are your constituents or not. Therefore, winning the money race does not necessarily demonstrate you have a broad base of support in your district.
We need a campaign finance system where winning the money race and having broad constituent support are the same thing. The best solution is a small-donor matching program, which incentivizes candidates to focus on small contributions by matching those donations with public funds. For example, a $20 check from your neighbor could be worth $200 to a candidate. This way, there would be less reason to seek out a $1,000 check from a donor in California if you can raise $1,000 with five $20 checks from your constituents.
Shane Jenkins,Parker
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