Maine and Arizona Voters Reaped the Benefits of Their Publicly-Funded Clean Election Systems on Nov. 2

TomPaine.com, Dec. 6, 2004
by Micah L. Sifry

While overall campaign spending rose 30 percent in 2004, topping $4 billion – led by two presidential candidates who raised more than half a billion in private contributions – something quite different took place in the states that have enacted Clean Money/Clean Elections systems: More candidates than ever are running for office on a limited budget of full public financing. And the system is spreading.

…In Maine, a whopping 83 percent of the state Senate (29 out of 35) and 77 percent of the House (116 out of 151) will be made up of legislators who ran clean…Both major parties are heavily represented in this group.

…It is now fair to say that in Maine, at least, the political norm is for candidates to refuse private contributions and instead rely solely on equal grants of public funds, which they qualify for by collecting a large number of $5 contributions at the beginning of their races.

In Arizona, a total of 46 candidates for the state legislature and corporation commission were elected running clean. Clean Elections winners in Arizona were both Republicans and Democrats…In Arizona, the Clean Elections system not only has increased the diversity of the candidate pool, it has expanded public participation in the funding process itself.

…(I)t is likely that widespread reliance on the Clean Elections systems in both states will again show a tempering in overall campaign costs and a narrowing of the financial gap between challengers and incumbents.

The success of public financing in Maine and Arizona has contributed to the passage of similar systems in more states….While the prospects for passing more reforms of the federal campaign system look slender right now, opportunities abound in the states. That’s in part due to the hard work of local activists, aided by the inevitable scandals that arise under "pay-to-play" politics…

It takes time and steady organizing efforts to enact Clean Elections-style reform, and defenders of the status quo - many of whom profit greatly from it - are scarcely indifferent to this challenge to their power.