Supporting fair elections
IN THE Nov. 11 letter, "Discouraging climate bill," the author asks what it will take to get a government that "will act for people instead of large corporations."
I would encourage those of us who share her concern to repeat the following phrase: "Those who pay for the election own the politician."
For as long as our elected leaders are compelled to spend a great deal of their time in office raising money from deep-pocketed interests (such as large corporations and their lobbyists) to finance their increasingly expensive campaigns, they will continue to promote corporate interests, first and foremost. This is the government we have now.
The solution is publicly financed elections, as have been successfully implemented in forward-thinking states, such as Arizona, Maine and Connecticut.
Fortunately, California has the opportunity to vote in June 2010 on a pilot project for bringing fair elections to our state.
Visit www.YesFairElections.org to learn more about why this will be the most straightforward and effective way to fix our broken system of government and get our elected leaders once again focused on representing the interests of the people.
Jay Ashford
Oakland
See the article on Oakland Tribune website
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