9/13/23
Clean Elections San Diego
Hi Everyone,
.
Last month we shared why clean elections are important. This month let’s see how they work. And for those who might have missed last month’s update, here is a brief reminder. While there are a lot of reasons to support clean elections, the one that I like is that it “levels” the playing field for those who want to run for office. It does cost money to run for office and right now those who are wealthy or those who have special interest financial support usually overwhelm those candidates who are capable and who might want to serve the public, but who have limited financial resources.
.
I think this is wrong and clean elections provides a solution to this problem.
.
If we had clean elections in place, candidates who wanted to run for office as a clean candidate could earn the right to a small amount of public funding if they can prove that they have wide support and if they agree to not solicit any donations from anyone else nor to put any of their own money in their own campaign.
.
The amount of pubic funds that a clean elections candidate would receive would be small when compared to the amount of funding available to wealthy and special interest supported candidates. But they do not have to match the huge amounts of funding available to traditional candidates. The amount of funding that a clean election candidate would receive can cover the basic financial needs to run for office and they can now spend all their time reaching out and talking to voters. And if a clean candidate wins, they would only be accountable to the voters!
.
For more information on the value of clean elections, go to our web page: cleanelectionssandiego.org and watch the short, 7 minute video created and narrated by Bill Moyers, former journalist and philosopher, who is a passionate supporter of clean elections. In his video, entitled “Road to Clean Elections,” Bill Moyers shows the dramatic impact clean elections has had on Arizona and Maine which have had them since 2000.
.
That’s all for this month. If you have any questions or suggestions, please give me a call at 619-299-8870 or email me at hartley2k@aol.com. And you can always join me for coffee on the last Saturday of the month,
.
John Hartley, Coordinator of Clean Elections San Diego