And you frame the question as primarily one of how much it would cost to fund elections publicly. But I think the jury is in on that one- any fair cost analysis shows the taxpayers pay hundreds of times more in corrupt appropriations and kickbacks- both the legal and legal kind- than the cost of publicly financing election campaigns would be. When a company or individual gives an office holder $2000 and gets a million dollar contract for half a million dollars worth of work, the expenditure is the very model of penny wise, pound foolish for the taxpayer..

The bureaucratic nightmare forecast for candidates in CleanElections doesn’t really exist- campaign treasurers are required to carefully and electronically document expenditures now and actually they would not have to track contributions any more which is a main source of headaches now. It has posed no problems for Maine and parts of Arizona where it has been successfully implemented for quite a few years now.