What Can Work in Delaware Can Work in America: Clean Elections

Dear Fellow Delawareans:

Whether we do it now or in 08,’ the people for the first time have the means to take the profit out of running for office. Under the plan, we can vote in the best qualified candidate for the job. But in order to do that, we the people of Delaware must first push for an amendment called a Clean Elections amendment that allows candidates to run a publicly financed campaign that eliminates influence peddling and the power of special interests to control election outcomes.

Clean Elections is predicated on the notion that campaigns should be run by the “best and the brightest” not the most powerful or those with the biggest war chests; it is propelled by the Founding Father’s idea that people should vote for the candidates who possess the skills and the ideas to move the country forward; not to advance the interests of special interests groups with big cash reserves.

Today, nurses and other health care workers are pushing for Clean Elections and reforms in California; and they are working to minimize the amount of dollars any corporation can put into an election. Why don’t we follow the leads of Arizona and Maine and make it possible for honest folks to participate as candidates without to have a huge war chest and lots of prominent contributors—all with axes to grind. Let’s take the big war chests and influence peddling out of the election contest; Let’s make it about what’s best for Delaware!...

There is a public mood sweeping this country. And it’s called Clean Elections.
And it’s designed to take the big dollars from lobbyists out of local, state and national campaigns and its beginning to grow legs and win the hearts and minds of concerned citizens around the country. What is happening in California, Maine and Arizona is only the tip of the iceberg.

Here’s the short version of how it works: The Plan is very simple, if a candidate decides to run for office in say a small state like Arizona, all he need do is gather 200 signatures from supporters who’ve contributed $5.00 each to the candidate’s campaign (that’s 5.00 dollars; not five thousand dollars!). No large donations are permitted and once the candidate makes this commitment, he must adhere to its guidelines. If he or she is up against a well-financed candidate who is going the traditional route seeking money from lobbyists and corporations, the government will provide matching funds to the other candidate up to a certain limit which in a national race in a place like California can be substantial—up to 25 million dollars for the primary and national election and scaled down accordingly for smaller states or local offices.

What this does is put democracy back into the process. And it’s not about one party over another, it’s about getting the best qualified candidate who will not be beholding to the big money players who are seeking to buy influence with their donations and support.

In Arizona, today, under Clean Elections there is a man with no money and conservative views who has won twice because the people believe what he has to say and he doesn’t have to spend three/fifths of every day collecting contributions! Today, in Maine, a fiscal conservative who is running on a platform for smaller government is being financed by the State against a well financed democratic opponent who claims that he doesn’t want to feed at the public trough. But the Conservative candidate says that through this legislation he can run for office and not be beholding to anyone. And that’s not all bad!

The truth is that since the advent of TV advertising, elections have not been the same. Candidates grouse that most of their time is spent raising money. The fact is that the voters cannot ante up enough to compete on TV so the candidates have to turn for support to the lobbies and industry. There is no free lunch as we all know and lobbies do not out of the goodness of their hearts donate money unless they can anticipate pay-back.
All in all, even the best candidates for office under the present system have to compromise their standards if they want to win the election.

The Clean Election program makes it possible to take money considerations out of the run for office and restores the notion that a candidate can actually represent the interests of his district or election area without having to pay homage to the traditional “influentials”….and while not perfect, it is the best idea for returning elections to the people that has come down the pike in quite some time.

For those of a certain generation, TV advertising changed the dynamics putting the power in the hands of those with access to the most money. We can change that formulae if we make an effort to support the momentum towards Clean Elections here in the State of Delaware.

Please contact us if you would like to become engaged, volunteer or would like to be added to our mailing list.

Les Aaron-Friedlieb

The Committee for Positive Change…
Please contact: commposchange@aol.com

PS For more information, please contact pbs.com and check out the program this week on NOW which discusses the Clean Elections information in greater detail.