"Freeing the political process from the influence of big money"
Other States?From California: Proposition 89, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, has qualified for that state's November ballot! The initiative qualified after 620,000 Californians signed the petition circulated by the California Nurses Association. If Prop 89 is approved in November, voters in California will send a powerful message to the nation, in addition to establishing public financing of election campaigns in our nation's most populous state. The California Clean Money Campaign has joined California Common Cause, Public Campaign, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, and the Greenlining Institute in officially endorsing the initiative. www.caclean.org - California chapter of our organization. www.cleanmoneyelections.org - The organization supporting this proposition in California In the states that have passed public financing laws people are working to implement those laws and starting to reap the rewards. In the West, Arizona is leading with full public financing. The November 2002 elections saw the election of the first Governor under the "clean money elections" law. Since Arizona passed their public financing election reform law, 10 out of 11 state wide offices were won by those running on public financing. This includes the present Governor Janet Napolitano. The Arizona House now has 55% of its representatives elected after running campaigns solely with public funding (notably 22% Republican and 23% Democrat make up the total)."Clean money reform works! The 2002 elections clearly show increased voter participation, increased voter turn out, and increased competition among candidates." Deb Ross, the field director for Public Campaign, a national organization dedicated to comprehensive campaign finance reform, stated, talking about Arizona. "It also decreased the influence of big money interests. If you compare 1998 elections, where 79% if all races were won by the candidate who spent the most money with 2002, only 2% of races were affected by disparate funding." In the state of Maine, the shift has been even more dramatic, with 77% of the House and 83% of the Senate composed of legislators who used the clean money system. Both states passed full public funding options (a.k.a. clean money reform) for state races in the 1990s. And what do these impressive totals add up to? A shift in the way "politics as usual" operates. The state of North Carolina has instituted public financing for candidates for higher judicial offices, and the state of New Mexico now offers public funding for candidates for the Public Regulation Commission, which regulates corporations in New Mexico. "Votes Should Count more than Money" reads the bumpersticker of Idahoans for Fair Elections. And getting from bumpersticker catch phrases to changing policy is what multiple groups around the country are doing. In Idaho and Montana, "independent judiciary" bills that would provide public financing for specific state judge elections are presently under debate. In each of these cases, these efforts are building toward comprehensive public financing of elections. This shows how some states are starting with a smaller piece and working up to all statewide races. The states of Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, West Virginia, and California are also close to passing public campaign financing bills. Some form of public campaign financing exists in numerous cities, including New York and, most recently, Portland, Oregon. Interestingly, Seattle had the first municipal public campaign financing law in the country but it was made unconstitutional by an "electoral reform" initiatiave in 1992! We at Washington Public Campaigns plan to lobby in 2006 for a bill that would reinstate the Seattle public financing law. State Level Resources on the Web - The web site page provided by the national organization, Public Campaign, about what is happening in various states. Maine Citizens for Clean Elections - Maine website for Clean Elections Clean Elections Institute - Arizona website for Clean Elections |
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