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Democracy At A Fair Price? Public Financing Of Elections, Trevor Potter

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In this transcript, Mr. Trevor Potter, former head of the Federal Elections Commission, moderated a five-person panel on the role of contribution limits and public financing in campaign finance reforms. Acknowledging that on the federal level there is both public funding and mostly unlimited private funding, Mr. Potter posed to the panel the question of whether such a system is good for the public. Through an examination of state examples presented by the panelists, the discussion focused on how public funding is actually working. This discussion included whether public financing of communication is sufficient, particularly as compared to self-funded candidates, …