Enemies of the State System

[Guest guest]

The big buck boys will have to stamp this out.

 

Who could allow such a thing as to let the population have a say in really who

runs for office and how much they can spend and no special interest money

allowed. My God that is like being unamerican in todays environment. F,

 

 

http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/blog/index.cfm?startrow=1 & maxrows=10#702

 

 

Enemies of the State System

 

 

Rangers and Pioneers may be busy with their fundraising efforts for President

Bush, but that doesn't mean they don't pay attention to campaign issues closer

to home. And the Public Campaign Action Fund reports that two of them are

abetting efforts to get rid of a " Clean Money " election law in Arizona.

 

In 1998, Arizona enacted a landmark public financing system that allows

candidates to qualify for public campaign funds by collecting a large number of

$5 contributions. No donors may give more than $5. (This contrasts with the

current " money primary " , in which candidates line up to collect from large

donors.) Once a candidate collects the requisite number of $5 contributions,

public financing kicks in, and the candidate may not solicit or receive any more

contributions.

 

The system is popular with politicians in both parties. Nine of 11 statewide

offices in Arizona are held by candidates who participated in the system,

including the governor and attorney general. But one group is unalterably

opposed. Special interests, who are accustomed to buying access and influence

with large contributions, are sponsoring a ballot measure to try to rescind the

Clean Money system in Arizona.

 

And, lo and behold, according to the Arizona secretary of state, two of Bush’s

bundlers stand at the head of the line of those trying to do away with the

system: 2000 Pioneer Ken Kendrick, whose $10,000 gift to a group called " No

Taxpayer Money For Politicians " ties for the largest check the organization has

collected; and 2004 Ranger/2000 Pioneer Jim Click, who put up $5,000 for " Stop

Taxpayer Money for Politicians, " a contribution that ties for the largest

donation that group has received.

 

It just shows that purchasing the White House is not enough for some people.

 

 

 

Posted 05-26-2004 2:20 PM EDT // link

 

 

 

http://www.pcactionfund.org/five/more.htm

 

 

Five Dollars To

Keep Arizona Clean

 

Help Stop the Special Interest Power Grab in Arizona!

 

Wealthy special interests with deep national ties to conservative and right-wing

causes and candidates are pouring in hundreds of thousands of dollars to gut

Arizona’s landmark voter-approved Clean Elections Act. They want to inscribe

their ability to legally bribe candidates right in the state constitution, and

they don’t want any other way for candidates to run except as beholden to them.

Wealthy developers, insurance companies, and corporate lobbyists are all lining

up to get rid of the reform law. And it is for one reason: it blunts their

influence.

 

Under the Clean Elections Act, five dollars is the most a voter can give a

participating candidate. Small donors mean as much to candidates as big donors

because candidates take no big money from special interests whatsoever. The new

system has encouraged more people to run for office, increased competition,

reduced the money gap between challengers and incumbents, increased the number

of minority candidates, and freed all of its participants from having to spend

all their time dialing for dollars and wooing rich contributors. Once in office,

participants in Clean Elections--who include the state's governor and attorney

general, and a healthy mix of Democrats and Republicans--report being liberated

from the pressures and conflicts of interest that are inherent in our system of

privately-financed campaigns.

 

Big money doesn’t give up without a fight, and neither will we. This Five

Dollars to Keep Arizona Clean campaign is premised on the belief that the power

of organized people can beat back the power grab of the vested interests in

Arizona and nationally. We must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with reformers in

Arizona and fight those who would return the state to the bad old days of

influence-peddling with public policies and elections alike on the auction

block.

 

With a five dollar contribution (or more) today, you will tell the wealthy

special interests in Arizona and around the country that this country belongs to

all of us.

 

But if you want to do more, sign up to be a friend-raiser and pledge to get 25

friends and family members to join this Five Dollars to Keep Arizona Clean

campaign.

 

What's a friend raiser?

 

What's At Stake

 

Charter Organizations

 

California Clean Money Campaign (www.caclean.org)

Citizen Action of New York (www.citizenactionny.org)

Democracy North Carolina (www.democracy-nc.org)

Hawaii Clean Elections (www.hiclean.org)

Iowa Citizen Action Network (www.iowacan.org)

Massachusetts Voters for Clean Elections (www.massvoters.org)

Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action (www.mapa-mn.org)

North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (www.ohvec.org)

Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (www.planevada.org)

Campaigns for People (www.campaignsforpeople.org)

Florida Consumer Action Network (www.fcan.org)

Citizen Action of Illinois (www.citizenaction-il.org)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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