Political corruption is on the rise
Donations are comin’ in super-size
Californians need a little bit of love
But we can’t get in to the “Big Boys Club”
A handheld camera shows the kind of enthusiastic crowds of Californians that defeated Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s special election power grab last year.
Why do we need Prop. 89? More on the flip
Please share widely!
You’re absolutely right. Campaign financing is an initial stumbling block to so many other issues. We would probably have a single-payer health care system by now if it weren’t for our privately financed campaigns.
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The newly reorganized Mass Voters for Fair Elections (formerly Mass Voters for Clean Elections) is planning another attempt at a public financing law in Massachusetts. They’ve re-crafted the legislation to address some of the concerns people had with it the last go-around. If you haven’t joined Mass Voters yet, please do. I’m guessing they’re waiting until after the midterms (and Deval is governor) before they formally launch the new campaign.
It might be useful to look at the Maine Clean Elections law, in place since 2000. See: http://www.newrules…. or http://www.state.me….
The results have been quite positve with a 40% increase in the number of contested primaries and with the number of legislative candidates rising after the law took effect in 2000. In previous years (before the reform) there had been a steady decline in the number of candidates. Public financing has also become more poplular with the number of “clean candidates” increasing from 31 % in year 2000 to 71 % in 2004.