Washblog

On Tuesday, March 20th, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced a landmark bill to implement clean elections--or "Fair Elections"--nationwide.
Here's how it works:
The Fair Elections Now Act (S936) would create a voluntary system of public funding for Congressional campaigns modeled after the successful systems in such places as Arizona and Maine. The basic idea is that a candidate for national office can seek public funding, after proving his viability by raising a threshold of small donations. The candidate would then be given a substantial amount of money to conduct his campaign. If the candidate is running against an opponent who spends a ridiculous amount of money, the public financed candidate would be entitled to extra "fair fight" funds. The extra funds would match, 1 to 1, the opponent's spending up to 200 percent of the original grant. Under this system, candidates could be accountable to us rather than wealthy campaign contributors. Candidates, freed from having to spend their campaigns calling donors begging for money, would be able to spend time talking with voters and hearing the concerns average Americans.

Elections are the basis of our democratic society and every decision the government makes.
Ever wonder why we have yet to see Congress acting to fight global warming? Could part of it be the fact that energy and natural resources groups spent $400 million while citizen environmental groups spent only $17.4 million?
This money imbalance is the reason why many diverse groups came out in support for the bill including Common Cause, US PIRG, Public Campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice, Public Citizen, League of Women Voters, NAACP, Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, SEIU, National Council of Churches USA and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Senator Patty Murray sits on the all important Rules committee, where the Fair Elections Now Act will likely be heard in the near future.  It's likely that she'll support it, and she should know that many of us will give her our strong backing when she does--one way is by signing a petition that Common Cause will hand deliver to her office.  

It is time to fundamentally change how elections work and return power to the public rather than just to the wealthiest contributors.

For more information on the bill and "Fair Elections," visit
Stop the Money Chase!