"Clean Money" Bill Can Cure Corruption
Why didn't you mention in your story about how only the
rich can run for governor that the cure for our sick
political system is now before our state Legislature? (Page
1, April 5) AB 583, ``The California Clean Money and Fair
Elections Act'' would allow any candidate who had
sufficient public support, verified by a qualifying number
of signatures and $5 contributions, to receive a set amount
of public funding for his/her campaign. The clean-money
candidate would have to promise not to take any private
donations, including from himself/herself.
The system is already working well in Maine, where
contested primaries increased 40 percent, and in Arizona,
which has a ``clean'' governor and the majority of both
Democratic and Republican candidates ran using clean money
in 2002 and 2004.
Besides attracting more candidates, the availability of
clean money can eliminate the corruption of special
interests buying our elected officials. As candidate Arnold
Schwarzenegger said, ``The money comes in, the favors go
out, the people lose.'' Let the people win by urging
passage of AB 583, the clean-money bill. It has passed the
Assembly and is now in the state Senate.
Donna Poulos
Los Altos
See the article on San Jose Mercury News website
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