QUESTION
What approach does Susan Lerner suggest for addressing lobbying concerns when accepting public campaign funds?
2:43:28
·
37 sec
Lerner suggests a condition for accepting public matching funds could be requiring consultants to contractually agree not to lobby the officials they advise, or any firms associated with those consultants.
- Candidates accepting public funds would agree to contract terms prohibiting their consultants from lobbying them
- This requirement would extend to any firms associated with the consultants as well
- Lerner proposes this as a way to avoid potential constitutional challenges around restricting lobbying activities
Susan Lerner
2:43:28
Actually hearing the comments from the campaign finance board reminds me that there is another way to approach this, which is when you accept public money, you accept various restrictions.
2:43:41
And so it could be possible to look at having a condition of accepting matching funds that you have a contract with your consultants that they will not lobby you, that neither they nor firms they are associated with will lobby you, and that gets you around any constitutional challenge.
Lincoln Restler
2:44:01
That's that is a really smart idea.
2:44:03
Wait.
2:44:04
I like that so much.