DEMOCRACY WORKS! 

A Clean Elections Victory in New Jersey

Campaign finance reform activists are celebrating the first step in a long journey to public financing of state elections after the Assembly passed the "The New Jersey Clean Elections and Campaign Finance Study Commission" on June 30.

The legislation, which now moves to the Senate, would establish a nine-member task force to evaluate whether full public financing of legislative and gubernatorial campaigns should be enacted in New Jersey, and if so, how.

The inclusion of a public campaign funding pilot program in this legislative package demonstrates recognition of the benefits public financing has brought to legislative and gubernatorial elections in Maine and Arizona since 2000.

"Garden State residents are tired of seeing our elections marked by ‘for sale’ signs. The study commission can recommend ways to reduce the costs of our elections and to raise enough public funding to provide a viable alternative for candidates who do not want to ask for handouts from special interests," said NJCA Program Director Staci Berger at an Assembly State Government Committee hearing on the bill in June.

Lionel Leach, State Director of the NAACP-National Voter Fund agreed. "People everywhere are saying they want to put a new FACE on state politics. Our government needs to be accessible to all people – regardless of race, gender or wealth. Our studies show that people of color give less money to politicians and, as a result, have less access to our elected officials. Public financing puts everyone on equal ground."

(An excerpt from www.njcitizenaction.org).