Public Campaign Financing in Albuquerque: Citizens Win with Clean Money Elections

Publication Date: February 2011

Publisher: Center for Governmental Studies

Author(s): Molly Milligan

Research Area: Campaign Finance

Keywords: Campaign finance; elections; citizens

Type: Report

Coverage: United States New Mexico

Abstract:

The voluntary program of public campaign financing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been markedly successful. In “Public Campaign Financing in Albuquerque: Citizens Win with Clean Money Elections,” the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) describes municipal elections conducted after voluntary public campaign financing was enacted in which candidates decreased their spending, campaigns focused on issues not fundraising, and large, privately funded campaigns did not materialize. CGS makes recommendations to make the program better, including two alternative innovative proposals that would give candidates supplemental public funding when voters lack sufficient election-related information close to an election, neither of which would implicate the First Amendment rights of high-spending opponents or other groups.