News Release

November 6, 2003

Media Contact: (202) 789-5200

Experts Available to Comment on Dean Public Funding Decision
Thankfully, Dean's decision may kill public financing of presidential campaigns

WASHINGTON--Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean yesterday appealed to his supporters to back his decision to decline public funding for his presidential campaign and take a gamble that he will raise more money from private donors. John Samples, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Representative Government, says that taxpayers should be thankful for Dean's decision, as it may once and for all put an end to the public financing of presidential campaigns.

"American taxpayers have spent $2 billion on presidential public funding since 1976. They have received little, if anything, for their money," Samples says. "Dean has concluded that accepting public money for the primaries will leave him with few resources after he gets the nomination. He has decided he must be free of the restraints that come with taxpayer financing of his primary campaign. He is doing the rest of us a favor. If Howard Dean's decision to forego public funding kills the program, it will be one kind of physician-assisted euthanasia that all taxpayers should support."

Samples and Cato Senior Fellow Patrick Basham are available for print and broadcast interviews regarding Dean's decision, campaign financing, and the presidential race. To arrange an interview, call the Cato Institute media relations department at 202-789-5200.

Government Financing of Campaigns Public Choice and Public Values, by John Samples

This Is Reform?: Predicting the Impact of the New Campaign Financing Regulations, by Patrick Basham