CNS Senior Staff Writer

A winner has finally been declared in the Presidential 'football game', yet the true loser in this Super Bowl of American politics may be the spectators themselves, not Al Gore. So far, taxpayers at the federal, state and local levels have contributed over $327 million to elect a President. More than enough to buy a professional football team of their own, Tom McCloskey, NTUF Senior Policy Analyst said in a statement.

McCluskey used other football analogies to illustrate his points.

First Half (Primaries). The total amount of 'Federal Matching Funds' given to Presidential candidates who qualified for them under election laws was $61 million. Just two of the 11 qualified candidates-Republican George W. Bush and Libertarian Harry Browne, refused such funding. Ironically, many opponents who accused Bush of being beholden to 'big oil' and 'big tobacco' were themselves beholden to big government, McCloskey said.

Halftime Show (Conventions). City, state and federal taxpayers fronted 71% of the costs associated with the Republican Convention in Philadelphia ($46.5 million total), including $609,000 for a Defense Department display at a nearby naval base whose restricted access allowed just 310 people to view it. The $53 million taxpayer tab for the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles represents an incredible 93% of the total public/ private cost. Los Angeles area taxpayers were originally told they would pay nothing for the event, but ultimately shelled out $36 million for everything from security to cab fares.

Second Half (General Election). Although George W. Bush declined Federal Matching Funds in the primaries, he did accept $67.6 million from taxpayers in the match-up with Al Gore (37% of the $184 million Bush raised from all sources). A whopping 62% of the $133 million Gore raised in the election season came from one donor organization, the Federal Election Commission.

Sudden Death Overtime (Recount and Transition). Based on one Florida County Commissioner's estimate, the total taxpayer cost associated with the state's recount, not including courts, has approached $1 million. On the federal level, $7.1.million has been appropriated for the Presidential transition. Until last week, neither candidate was allowed in the transition office, which cost $9,800 per day to sit unused.

McClusky also thinks taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill for other post-election costs. The current Congress has already appropriated $6.9 million for Inauguration expenses for George W. Bush, and bipartisan legislation slated for the next Congress that gives 'voting procedure reform grants' to states, carries an annual price tag of $260 million, McClusky said.

Taxpayers are justifiably outraged over the subsidies they've been forced to pay for professional sports teams. There is no discernable reason why they should be paying the ticket price for professional politicians to win the White House either, McClusky concluded.

However, Common Cause, a political advocacy group, however, thinks there should be public financing of presidential campaigns, according to Matt Keller, Legislative Director. Keller believes that just because it costs too much money is not a valid criticism against public financing.

The reason that the public financing of the presidential system came out in the first place was because of Watergate. The major scandal in Watergate was the way that money changed hands. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars changing hands in suitcases and brown paper bags. People recognize that this was probably not the best way for a potential leader to fund his or her campaign, Keller said.

The Public Financing Law was passed in 1974, Keller continued, as part of a broader package of reforms and it allowed presidential candidates not to have to rely on private donors in order to launch campaigns for office. It's better that the President not be indebted to major interests in order to have his campaign funded.

Common Cause also doesn't have a problem with taxpayer financing of political conventions because of the needed assistance from police and fire departments and other municipal departments to keep order at the conventions.

Cities bid for conventions in a very competitive way because they know that it brings business to their city and ultimately the benefits outweigh the costs. I would guess that Mayor (Richard) Riordan in Los Angeles and Mayor (Ed) Rendell in Philadelphia were probably pretty pleased to have the conventions come to town, I think probably the taxpayers benefited in a net gain way, Keller said.

Common Cause believes soft money is a big problem in the financing of presidential campaigns.

With the advent of the soft money system, part of the reason why the presidential system is in place has now deteriorated because these guys are going out and raising soft money in addition to getting public funding. You have to ban soft money in order to make the presidential public financing system work better, Keller said.