Several states have already joined in on the idea of clean elections, including the notorious Arizona, scenic Maine, nutmeggy Connecticut to name a few. To add the nation's largest state to the list though would be an impressive victory against special interest politics. California has it's shot to do just that this coming Tuesday.
From Calitics:
Proposition 15, the California Fair Elections Act, is widely known as the proposal to have the Secretary of State elected by a clean money system beginning in 2014 as a way to demonstrate the viability of the concept to Californians. But that's not all Prop 15 does, and not the only way it can expand clean money to the rest of the state. Prop 15 also removes a 20-year old restriction on local governments adopting clean money, and makes it easier to expand the system in the future by not requiring a follow-up vote to create public financing for other statewide races. [...]Now that is a tough bill. Californians, for the few that read this NY blog should remember to vote yes, and all those in New York would do well by telling their west coast friends to clean California's electoral system by voting yes on 15!
If Prop 15 passes, local governments will be able to create their own publicly funded elections systems, though they'll have to also create the funding source. The state legislature could also expand public funding to other statewide offices as well, including governor, but they too would have to create a new funding source.
Now if only New York could do the same, it would help to sweep away much of the mess that is fueled by special interests in Albany.
