Clean elections: the problem and the solution
Two interesting observations from a recent California Clean Money Campaign newsletter:
First, the Center for Responsive Government shows that spending on Capitol Hill is truly the gold standard in high-yield investments. So far, 161 financial institutions have received federal bailout money. Their initial investment: $114.2 million ($37.5 million to contributions to candidates and almost $76.7 million in lobbying expenditures in 2008 by financial institutions). Yield so far? $305 billion in TARP funds (and rising!).
This is a rate of return of more than 2,500!
On the plus side, the November elections saw a record number of Clean Elections candidates win their races, with more than 370 Clean-running candidates voted to statehouses, the judiciary, and statewide positions in six states. Citizens in Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Portland, Oregon voted for a diverse mix of Clean Elections candidates from across the political spectrum -- Democrats and Republicans, incumbents and challengers, men and women. Some highlights:
- Connecticut held its first-ever elections under their new public campaign finance program, and 81% of the seats in the General Assembly are held by officials who participated in the program.
- An astonishing 93% of Connecticut's women candidates ran under the public financing system, including 41 of the 45 women incumbents running for re-election!
- In Maine, where Clean Elections were instituted in 2000, Clean Elections officials now hold 85% of the seats in the Maine legislature.
- Nine of Maine's Cleanly-elected officials in the current legislature are under the age of 30.
- 54% of the Arizona legislature is Cleanly-elected, up from 42% in 2008. Also, 8 of Arizona's 11 statewide officials used the state's Clean Elections program.
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