Making 1 and 1 Equal 3

The Sun's fascinating series of articles on former Senator Tommy Bromwell had this series of comments today about the financing of election campaigns:

But the Bromwell story could reverberate in Annapolis this year. Some liberal and good-government groups are pushing for a voluntary system of taxpayer-funded campaigns for the General Assembly, and they were quick to pounce on Bromwell's claims of being a "rainmaker" for his corporate friends as evidence that the state needs to act to get big money out of politics.

"It's past time to consider public finance ... particularly given what we read in the paper about the role a former senator played," said Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat.

Sean Dobson, interim executive director of Progressive Maryland, a liberal advocacy group, said public financing, which passed the House last year, is bottled up in a Senate committee.

He said his group and others will make a public push on the issue next week, highlighting Bromwell's claims to have pushed legislation to help Comcast and other corporations that supported him.

"Bromwell was the second-most -powerful senator for many years," Dobson said. "He's not some isolated bad apple. He lifted a curtain onto the inner workings of the Senate, and now this great institution has a stain on it. If senators want to clean that stain, they need to show they're not beholden to special interests. They need to pass public financing for campaigns."

Try to figure out what Pinsky and Dobson are trying to prove. Bromwell was a powerful State Senator who allegedly was making some money on the side for his own personal gain accepting bribes and peddling influence. What he was not accused of doing was accepting illegal campaign contributions. It just so happens that certain leftist interests are trying to parlay the Bromwell scandal into making a case for publicly financed election campaigns, which benefits nobody and sharply curtails public participation in the electoral process.

Additionally, what laws can you pass that aren't already on the books that are going to make people more honest? You could have no campaign finance laws, or you could have laws that ban private dollars from funding campaigns entirely and you still would not eliminate the kinds of nefarious activities Bromwell has been accused of participating in.

Trying to link the Bromwell scandal with the desire for publicly financed elections is like adding one and one to get three; it is just illogical.