[EL] funds for Presidential Inaugural Committee

[J.H. Snider]

The follow-up commentary I mentioned yesterday, The Presidential Inaugural Ticket Sweepstakes<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jh-snider/inauguration-tickets_b_2476194.html>, was published a few minutes ago in the Huffington Post.

--J.H. (“Jim”) Snider
President of iSolon.org<http://isolon.net/> and Lab Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics<http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/the-center/mission>.

From: Craig Holman [mailto:holman at aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 6:58 PM
To: J.H. Snider; law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Cc: douglasrhess at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [EL] funds for Presidential Inaugural Committee

Jim:

Good article, and an interesting new approach.
--- And here I was thinking there are no more good academics on this listserv. Delighted to be shown wrong.

Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
T-(202) 454-5182
C-(202) 905-7413
F-(202) 547-7392
Holman at aol.com<mailto:Holman at aol.com>

-----Original Message-----
From: J.H. Snider <snider at isolon.org<mailto:snider at isolon.org>>
To: law-election <law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>>
Cc: Doug Hess <douglasrhess at gmail.com<mailto:douglasrhess at gmail.com>>
Sent: Sun, Jan 20, 2013 6:05 pm
Subject: Re: [EL] funds for Presidential Inaugural Committee
Doug,

Along these lines, you might be interested in my op-ed, Presidential Inaugural Pork<http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/the-administration/277217-presidential-inaugural-pork>, published last week in The Hill.  It focuses on the relatively small-time quid pro quo for receiving presidential inaugural tickets, especially swearing-in tickets.  I hope to have a follow-up piece published tomorrow.

The difference in my framing vs. yours is I’m focusing on the implications of public rather than private resources already being used to fund the inaugural, and the consequent question of the democratic legitimacy of how those public resources are allocated.

I’d agree that your framing addresses the bigger problem.   Today’s print edition of the Washington Post has a particularly good front page story<http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/inauguration/for-top-donors-inauguration-means-access-influence-and-angling-for-next-big-job/2013/01/19/4082a184-60d7-11e2-a389-ee565c81c565_story.html> framed along those lines.  If inaugural events were fully publicly funded, the type of problem I highlight would come even more to the fore.  But through the use of bona fide lotteries, the problem might also be solved relatively easily.  This may partially address your query: “Why not fund this?”

--J.H. (“Jim”) Snider
President of iSolon.org<http://isolon.net/> and Lab Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics<http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/the-center/mission>.


-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu?>] On Behalf Of Doug Hess
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 3:19 PM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] funds for Presidential Inaugural Committee

Somewhat related to elections policy:

Is there a reason, political or policy-wise, that the Presidential
Inaugural events are not fully, or almost fully, funded by the public?

It strikes me as unseemly that a president has to pass the hat to
raise money for this, in addition to the usual concerns about possible
corruption and appearances of it. I don't mind raising funds from
memorabilia (although an PIC shot glass is a little tacky, albeit
all-American), but why not fund this? Both parties should be willing
to vote for a realistic budget that could be recommend by the planning
officials (which I think are largely career officials, police,
military, Secret Service, etc.)

Doug
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