NORWALK DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE
DISTRIBUTED, NEW CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES ~printer friendly~
NEW CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES
This year candidates for the State Legislature and State Senate will receive state funding for their campaigns. Of course, so will their opponents.
Each legislative candidate will need to raise $5,000 from 150 or more small contributors living in Norwalk. For our senate candidate the amount is $15,000 from 300 contributors living in Norwalk and Darien.
These qualifying contributions have to be at least $5 and cannot exceed $100 from any single contributor.
The candidates need to raise their qualifying amounts as quickly as possible and assemble all the required paperwork for the state so that it can be checked over. It will be checked very carefully because the
expenditure of state money is involved. The good news is that once the candidate qualifies, fundraising is over. You won't be asked to donate any more to these campaigns. (Of course, the town committee,
presidential candidates and our candidate for congress will still want your money.)
The amount each candidate may spend on his entire campaign is strictly limited. In sports terms, it is like a hard salary cap. This means that each candidate wants to spend as little as possible on fund raising
expenses so as to have the maximum remaining for things like mailings and advertising.
Campaigns should try to have all of their fundraising completed by the end of February at the latest. Since each campaign needs a large number of small contributors, you should consider dividing whatever
contribution you wish to make between the campaigns. State Senate candidates need three times as much money in total as House Candidates, from twice as many contributors so if you can give to all the
campaigns, his or her check should be the largest.
If you can afford $100 in total, you might divide it up and give $60 to the senate candidate and $20 to two house candidates. The minimum qualifying contribution is $5 so even if you can only afford $15
or $20 in total you can be very helpful in meeting the goal(s). For once it is really true that any contribution, no matter how small can help the campaigns.
For couples who wish to give, the donations can come from a joint bank account, but each donor must sign separate checks. Both signing the same check counts as only one donation, not two. If your
signature is hard to read (an all too common problem) please print the donor's name as well.
Each donor MUST fill out the donation slip included in this envelope. A copy of each slip must accompany a copy of each check. These will be sent to the state for auditing purposes.
You will no doubt be contacted by email or phone with the name(s) of the candidate committees for the various campaigns in Norwalk, and information on where to send the money.
In the past the candidates would have sent you a nice remittance envelope and printed donation form. These materials cost money - money which can be saved and used later in the campaign. This year the
fundraising slogans truly are "Every little bit helps" and "A penny saved is a penny earned."
Thank you for your understanding and your donation(s)
Go back to CONVENTION PACKAGE ~ click here
NEW CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES
CONTRIBUTION FORM ~click here~
DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL PLEDGE ~click here~
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