State House candidate fights to use campaign funds for child care
Mom appeals ‘discriminatory’ elections panel ruling
A Fairfield Democrat is appealing the State Elections Enforcement Commission’s decision not to allow her to use campaign funds to pay for child care.
Caitlin Clarkson Pereira, who is running for state representative and has a 3-year-old daughter, filed a petition for a declaratory ruling with the SEEC on Friday morning.
Responding to a query from Pereira, the SEEC issued an informal opinion in August stating Pereira could not use campaign money to pay for a babysitter.
“The main reason I wanted to continue fighting was the reason that I made the request in the first place, which was to make sure that all of us can run for office, regardless of being a parent or not having access to a lot of superfluous funds,” Clarkson
Pereira said Friday. “If the decision had been a yes, then it would have possibly opened the door for more women and possibly parents in general to run for office.”
Josh Foley, an attorney for the SEEC, confirmed the commission received Clarkson Pereira’s petition Friday. According to state statute, the commission must take action on the petition within 60 days by issuing a ruling, setting a hearing, specify a date by which they will issue a ruling or declare that they will not rule for a particular reason.
In Connecticut, campaign funds may only be spent on “the promoting of the nomination or election of the candidate,” according to state law enforced by the State Elections Enforcement Commission. Candidates receiving grants through the Citizens’ Election Program, like Clarkson Pereira, have a further restriction: funds may be spent “only for campaign-related expenditures made to directly further” their election.
This bars candidates from spending their campaign funds on “personal uses,” which in its informal opinion, the SEEC decided child care fell into that category.
In contrast, when New York congressional candidate Liuba Grechen Shirley filed a nearly identical request to the Federal Election Commission in May, the agency ruled she could use campaign funds to pay for child care. State commissions in Wisconsin, Texas, Alabama and Arkansas granted permission to candidates this summer, but an Iowa board ruled against it. Candidates in Minnesota already had permission.
Clarkson Pereira’s petition alleges that Connecticut’s rule has a discriminatory impact on women
because research finds women typically bear more child care responsibilities than men. The petition suggests the rule runs contrary to one of the five goals of the Citizens’ Election Program, which is “increasing meaningful citizenship participation.”
She waited until October to file the petition because she was seeking pro-bono legal aid on her petition.
“It’s not just about me and not just about parents running for office this session or in this election cycle, but all the future election cycles, and about supporting all working families in the fight for affordable child care,” said Clarkson Pereira, who is challenging state Rep. Brenda Kupchick.
Clarkson Pereira estimates she has spent $1,000 of her personal money on babysitting while campaigning this summer and fall, even though she limited her child care expenses as much as possible, not knowing if they would ever be reimbursed, she said. A frequently traveling partner and many campaign events after working hours necessitated babysitting for her young daughter.