Clean Up System
Letter to the editor
I was disturbed by Tom Chorneau's story on Jan. 27, which described how Gov. Schwarzenegger's borrowing of $4.5 million for the recall election violated campaign finance laws because he could raise money to pay off the loans after the election and disguise millions in special-interest contributions.
This is a pattern that he has employed in all of his campaigns, including Prop. 49, the recall campaign and his gubernatorial campaign.
We will continue to hear and read about these kinds of sleazy operations as long as we have a campaign financing system that ignores the interests of ordinary voters in favor of wealthy and powerful entities.
Successful efforts to change it, through voluntary public campaign financing called "Clean Money/Clean Elections", are now in place in Maine and Arizona.
Fortunately, there is now an effort to do the same in California (www.CAclean.org).
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