Less than two weeks before Election Day, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Milne outlined a set of policy proposals, including a six-point plan to reform the federal election process and a call for term limits.
“This cycle of special interest money flowing into campaign coffers when their issue is passing through the Senate is a systemic problem,” Milne said in a statement Tuesday. “And it speaks to the corrupt system of career politicians being propped up election after election by big, dirty money.”
The centerpiece of his reform plan is a proposal for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which allowed unaccountable money from Super PACs into federal races. Milne is also calling for a constitutional amendment to lock in term limits for senators and members of the U.S. House.
“If eight years is long enough for a president, 12 years should be plenty for a senator,” Milne said.
The process of amending the Constitution is difficult and designed to discourage frequent changes in the country’s founding document. To ratify an amendment, two-thirds of the House and Senate members must vote in favor of the proposal. Then it goes to the states, which must approve by a three-fourths margin. (A Constitutional Convention may also be called by legislatures across the country, but that has never happened to amend the original document.)
Milne offered no real strategy on how to get such an amendment passed, but pointed to recent polling that shows a vast majority of Americans support overturning the Citizens United decision.
Milne also said that, if elected, he would introduce legislation to offer public financing of elections to candidates who pledge to refuse political action committee money.
Public financing is currently available for presidential campaigns, but not other federal races for House and Senate. Asked where the public dollars to support candidates would come from, Milne said he hadn’t figured out the specifics, but that he may follow the funding mechanism for presidential races, where citizens can voluntarily chose to send $3 to the public financing fund.
FiveThirtyEight reported last year that the percentage of taxpayers who check the box has declined steeply in the past three decades.
Milne’s term limit proposal would have senators serve no more than two terms, 12 years, and four terms for members of the House, 8 years.
“The longer a person is in Washington, the cozier they get with lobbyists and special interests, and the further removed from the people and values that sent them there,” he said. “Term limits will serve to restore faith in government, reduce partisanship, and root out the insider’s club that rules us.”
Again, Milne would seek term limits through a constitutional amendment. If limits cannot be passed, Milne would introduce a bill — The Leahy Act to Prevent Career Politics — which would revoke pensions for Congress members who stay in D.C. past the suggested limits.
Milne’s other planks include restricting federal officeholders from soliciting and accepting campaign contributions from special interest groups their committees oversee. He also called for immediate online disclosure of all PAC and lobbyist contributions over $500, and to make mandatory online filing of Federal Election Commission reports so that the public has more and quicker access to campaign data.
Leahy campaign spokesman Jay Tilton said Leahy has long championed campaign finance reform, including overturning Citizens United through a constitutional amendment.
“Sen. Leahy has long been a vocal opponent of Citizens United and we commend Mr. Milne for joining Sen. Leahy in his commitment to rid politics of unregulated money,” Tilton said.
