Mark Greenberg Renews Call for Outside Money Ban in 5th District Race

Press Release

Mark Greenberg, Republican candidate for Congress in Connecticut's 5th District, today renewed his call for a ban on spending by outside groups in his race against Elizabeth Esty. Two days ago Elizabeth Esty rejected Greenberg's proposal to agree to a "transparency" pledge saying that Greenberg had the ability to self-fund his campaign.

In response, and to further his desire to reform and reduce campaign spending, Mark is calling upon Elizabeth Esty to abide by a campaign spending cap of $1.28 million dollars. The amount of the cap was determined by using the public financing cap for the Governor's race of $6.4 million and dividing it by Connecticut's five Congressional Districts.

"Three days ago, I asked Elizabeth to join me in a "transparency" pledge to discourage outside money from entering the race for Congress which she immediately rejected," Greenberg said. "Today I am reiterating my call for a ban on outside groups and proposing a campaign spending cap of $1.28 million."

"Elizabeth has repeatedly said she supports campaign finance reform," Greenberg said. "Let's set an example for the nation in this race. If Elizabeth is sincere, she will agree to a spending cap of $1.28 million, more than enough to communicate our respective messages. It will be interesting to see if she will back her words with actions, or if she will continue to apply her 'say one thing and do another' double standard."

On election night in 2012, Elizabeth Esty declared "Connecticut cannot be bought," referring to outside money spent in that race - even though she outspent her opponent by a nearly 2-1 margin and loaned her campaign over a half a million dollars.

Greenberg's "transparency pledge" was similar to one made in the 2012 US Senate Race in Massachusetts between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren, and it would have prohibited outside money from the race for Connecticut's 5th district and allowed the candidates to focus on the issues that matter to the residents of the district - if Elizabeth Esty had not refused.

"As an alternative if Elizabeth will not agree to a ban on outside money, perhaps capping the race at $1.28 million from all sources represents another opportunity for Elizabeth to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk," Greenberg said. "We will soon see if Elizabeth will literally put her money where her mouth is or whether she is interested in only talking about reform instead of joining with me on this important issue."

"I will remain open to any counter-proposal from Elizabeth that would level the playing field and promote a discussion with voters about the issues that matter to them instead of bombarding them with millions of dollars worth of attack ads."

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