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Efforts to spark campaign finance reform fail to ignite

Last Tuesday about 15 Wesleyan students joined about 20 other people, mostly students, from around the state in a sit-in outside Governor Rowland’s office in Hartford.

Their objective was to encourage Rowland to sign House Bill 5102, a campaign finance reform bill that was on his desk.

The bill was the most progressive publicly-funded elections bill in the country. Unfortunately, their efforts failed and he vetoed the bill a few days later.

Abe Walker ’03, who helped organize the effort, said that it was not a complete loss.

"We definitely turned a lot of heads. There hasn’t been direct action like that taken in the state house for a long time. We were recognized in several newspapers and on local news stations," Walker said.

"I think campaign reform will be more recognized as a result of [our efforts]. It was politically a bad move for Governor Rowland to veto the bill. I think he is going to have a hard time getting reelected," Walker continued.

The 15 Wesleyan students had different personal reasons for participating in the sit-in.

"I am very interested in the issue of keeping democracy in hands of people versus in hands of big money," said Joe Brown ’03. "This was an opportunity to do something tangible and direct. I think we pointed out that the issue is not going away."

The bill, which Governor Rowland had on his desk for about a week, would allow candidates to apply for public funds once they reach a certain monetary threshold. For the governor’s office this is $750,00. It is $500,00 for all other state offices.

"The threshold may be high," Walker said. "But it is still better than the way it is now, where corporations give thousands of dollars. The candidates then are accountable to these corporations."

The 35 participants of the sit-in adopted a tactic of direct influence, partly inspired by the success of the World Bank and IMF protests in Washington, D.C.

"Direct action is becoming established as a real tactic for getting things done," Walker said.

However, the tactics of Tuesday’s protest were less disruptive than those in D.C.

"We wanted the governor to take us seriously but we didn’t want him to turn into our enemy," Walker said. "We wanted to be a presence but not to be disruptive, so we sat silently."

Police relations were cordial, according to those involved.

"I thought [the sit in] was conducted very respectively," said Justin Kagin ’02, who was at the sit-in.

Many state representatives came by and thanked the sit-in participants and even gave speeches. At one point the governor walked by, but did not recognize the protesters.

"It was good to see people avoiding apathy and indifference," said Nate Andread ’02, another protester. "I thought under circumstances everything was done to draw attention to the issue. Overall we though it was fairly successful. I am sure there will be follow up."