"Public Election Money Levels the Field"

[GreenPartyVoter]

Clean Elections is a practical, proven reform that has been in place in Maine and Arizona since 2000 and for judicial races in North Carolina since 2004. Five other states, including New Jersey, and two cities have adopted it for all or some of their races. Getting Clean Elections in place can be tough, since the lawmakers often prefer to deal with the fund-raising devil they know. In Maine and Arizona, voters approved these systems via initiative. However, scandal can provide a push.

Last year, after months of revelations of pay-to-play schemes in Connecticut surrounding former Gov. John Rowland, the current Republican governor and Democratic legislature approved Clean Elections for statewide and legislative offices. This marked the first time that state politicians had approved such a system for their races.

With the wave of scandals surrounding convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the will is there to take up public financing of elections at the federal level. U.S. Reps. John Tierney (D., Mass.) and Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.) are lead sponsors of legislation that would establish public financing of elections for House races. A similar bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate soon.

Clean Elections levels the playing field so that a CEO and a waitress are on equal footing. In a country built on the value of one person, one vote, that makes a lot of sense.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1107-26.htm