I have been and am a supporter of public financing, notwithstanding the many difficulties in designing a system that is likely to work well, in line with my general view that anything that makes it easier for politicians to raise money is presumptively good.  But there are problems, and one of them is illustrated by this Reuters article about how one party in Germany is using public funds.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050907/od_nm/germany_anarchists_dc_1
 
 
          Best,
 
          Daniel Lowenstein
          UCLA Law School
          405 Hilgard
          Los Angeles, California 90095-1476
          310-825-5148