Word: questioned
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Question 2 would also limit the amount of funds a candidate could receive from their party--so-called "soft money" transfers. Closing these oft-abused loopholes in the current financing laws would safeguard Massachusetts elections from the influence of lobbying groups...
Tomorrow Massachusetts voters will decide one of the most important ballot questions in the country. Dubbed the Clean Elections Initiative by its supporters, Ballot Question 2 would revamp the state's campaign finance laws, introducing public financing to all races from governor to state representative. Opponents of the law claim its cost, estimated at $56 million, would require new taxes or cuts from other state programs like education and health care. But the benefits the law promises--cleaner, fairer elections beyond the influence of "soft money" contributors--far outweigh its price...
...restricts the right to free speech. This argument--that restricting contributions to candidates is equivalent to silencing the contributors--is misleading. No campaign finance law prohibits contributing to any candidate or party. Instead, it is the magnitude of individual contributions these laws seek to limit. In the case of Question 2, the law in fact would require support to be shown in the form of contributions--candidates for governor, for instance, must garner 6,000 contributions of $5 to $100 to be eligible for public funds...
...Question 2 and a similar question on the Arizona ballot succeed, Congress would be well advised to listen to the message voters are sending. Despite many years of promises of campaign finance reform, little progress has been made in Washington. The Shays-Meehan bill, which would have banned "soft money" contributions and which passed in the House despite the objections of the Republican leadership, died in the Senate...
...that of a man charged with but not convicted of a felony can remain. Burks' wife Charlotte is now running as a Democratic write-in candidate, and some key members of the embarrassed G.O.P. are supporting her. Tommy Burks' only remaining legacy on the ballot is a referendum question he sponsored: a proposed amendment to the state's constitution that would establish a crime victim's bill of rights...