Clean Money Politics

Letter to the editor

By Trent Lange, Vice President, California Clean Money Campaign

ROSS JOHNSON says it's "absurd" to talk about publicly financing campaigns during California's financial crisis ("Lawmakers pitch public-financed campaigns," March 24).

Actually, what California's financial crisis shows is that continuing to have large private and corporate donors pay for politicians' campaigns is absurd. Wasteful appropriations and giveaways to large corporate and special interest contributors are a large part of the reason our budget is in crisis in the first place.

If passed, AB 2949, based on a proposal by the California Clean Money Campaign, would limit the undue influence of big money on campaigns and the public coffers by offering a publicly funded alternative that would cost Californians only a penny a day.

Similar Clean Money laws in Arizona and Maine have allowed more qualified people to run for office and virtually eliminated money as a factor in the outcome of elections. Our Web site, (www.CAclean.org), shows that not only can California afford to pay for Clean Money, but that it can't afford not to.

Trent Lange
Vice President,
California Clean Money Campaign

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