The WV Public Campaign Financing Act gives the people of West Virginia a chance to take our government back from the special interests that call the shots.

The reality is that without tens of thousands of dollars, one simply can’t run a viable campaign. Thus, most prospective candidates are either personally wealthy – in which case they hardly represent typical West Virginians – or they raise money from special interests.

This money is an investment, you see – it is likely to be handsomely repaid in the form of favorable legislation such as tax breaks or relaxed regulation. Such breaks come at the expense of the public as a whole.

In 2002, the coal industry donated $187,400 to Governor Wise’s re-election campaign, and over $223,000 to members of the Legislature. Governor Wise pushed hard to raise the weight limits on coal trucks, and in 2003 the Legislature passed the bill, despite overwhelming public opposition.

The WV Division of Highways estimated a minimum of $2.8 billion for road and bridge upgrades if weight limits were increased. Truck fees pay a small part of that … we pay the rest.

In 2004, the chair of the WV Senate Health and

Human Resources Committee blocked a vote on a bill that would have linked drug prices to the federal supply schedule. Drug companies gave a total of $85,885 to state representatives in 2000 and 2002.

For less than $100,000, the drug companies blocked a bill that could have saved West Virginians $500 million!

In Arizona and Maine, where they have full public financing, they now have more contested elections, higher voter turnout, more women and people of color in office and innovative programs impossible elsewhere, such as health care for everyone in Maine.

Universal healthcare – that wouldn’t have been possible without Clean Elections.

If we want to actually reduce the legal vote buying that goes on in the Capitol, we must give our representatives a way to run and be elected to public office without selling out.

It’s a win/win/lose proposition: the politicians win because they can spend their time talking to their constituents instead of hustling their contributors; the public wins because "our" representatives will again be able to represent US; and the special interests lose – their special privileges. About time, too!