I absolutely reject the practice of raising and spending vast sums of money to run for public office. It’s antithetical to the whole concept of public service and has largely destroyed our democracy (just think of the travesty that is Citizens United). As such, in my history as a candidate I’ve raised and spent very little or no money in each of my campaigns, never more than a thousand dollars. In this election my opponents are poised to raise and spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to get elected. Apparently they’ve bought into the asinine concept that the candidate with the most money is somehow the most qualified.
In reality, the ability to fundraise has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to be an effective legislator, especially when so many campaign contributions come from corporations, PACs, and other special interest groups that are trying to buy influence with candidates. Until we fix this system (including overturning Citizens United) our political landscape is going to continuously and precipitously decline. Only in races with Green Party candidates or candidates that pledge not to participate in this farce of essentially buying elections will voters be able to elect representatives that are not beholden to the forces that are tearing this country apart.
I’ve spent a lot of time considering whether or not to spend any money on this campaign and I’ve come to a decision. I am setting a goal of raising $999.00 to spend on campaign materials, specifically, t-shirts, lawn signs, buttons, and stickers. I believe that this modest sum is well within what should be reasonable limits on campaign spending yet will allow me to run a more competitive campaign. As part of the overall strategy I’m hoping to raise this money in the next two weeks solely through small contributions. If you are willing to help me you can make a contribution via PayPal by sending money to colinbennettforsenate@gmail.com. You can also make a contribution via mail using my campaign address: 487 East Pond Meadow, Westbrook, Connecticut 06498.
Thank you. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
My priorities are improving job growth through ramping up the state’s clean energy economy, improving education for all of our children and young people, and stabilizing taxes for low and middle income families. In the coming weeks I’ll post more specific information on each of these priorities as well on other issues relevant to this race. In the meantime, if you have questions or want to know my thoughts on an issue, feel free to email me at colinbennettforsenate@gmail.com, or just comment on this post.
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Bennett for Senate