Voters will have the chance to shake up business as usual by passing the California Fair Elections Act on the June 2010 ballot. With it, Californians can finally begin to fundamentally reform the election process by getting elected officials out of the fundraising game so they can devote their time to solving California's problems.

After a weeks-long standoff, the governor and legislators finally sealed the deal on a complicated package of budget "fixes" meant to shore up the state's $26 billion deficit.

After the deal was finalized, news reports revealed that key trade-offs of the budget deal were finalized not in public meetings or in televised votes but in backroom deals with doors closed to all but a few elected officials - and a few powerful lobbyists.

There's good reason for voters' obvious dissatisfaction. Children, seniors, people with disabilities and middle-class families are all paying dearly for the budget mess in the form of less health care coverage for kids, higher college tuition, worsening roads and public infrastructure, and more crowded schools and hospitals. But billion-dollar industries haven't been asked to sacrifice a single penny to get the state back on track.

California voters know it's no coincidence that these industries are among the largest donors to campaign committees controlled by elected officials and candidates for office. In one of the most egregious examples of Sacramento's pay-to-play rules, the governor stymied his own proposal for an oil extraction tax - a proposal widely supported by voters - after Chevron Corp. donated $500,000 to his special election committee. Attempts to increase the sales tax on cigarettes were also stymied after Philip Morris gave $350,000. And who knows what other budget fixes the public might have supported that were killed in the Legislature after the more than $120 million given to California legislative candidates in the 2008 election cycle alone. It's obscene, but perfectly legal.

The California Fair Elections Act is based on the simple notion that elected officials should be accountable to the voters, not donors and special interests. Authored by Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the measure asks voters to establish a voluntary pilot project for California's secretary of state races in 2014 and 2018, allowing candidates to qualify for public financing if they agree to strict spending prohibitions and show they have a broad base of support by raising a large number of $5 contributions from Californians. The pilot program would be funded primarily by fees on lobbyists, lobbying firms and lobbyist employers, with no taxpayer dollars going to candidates.

The California Fair Elections Act is based on proven and successful election reforms in seven states and two cities. Nearly 400 candidates were elected using only fair elections funding in their 2008 campaigns, and the programs enjoy popular support across party lines. Elections in those states are far more competitive - unlike California, where the median winning candidate outspent the median losing candidate in 2008 by a startling 28-1. The California Fair Elections Act represents the change voters want and the reform California so badly needs.

---

Trent Lange is the chairman of Californians for Fair Elections. Richard Holober is the executive director of the Consumer Federation of California.

This article appeared on page A - 19 of the San Francisco Chronicle