Rhode Islanders for Fair Elections are fighting for Clean Elections in the state, and in it for the long haul. Realistic about the several years of work they have ahead of them, they are working with legislator allies like State Sen. Rhoda Perry and Rep. Edith Ajello to win full public financing for statewide and legislative offices.

Rhode Island is evaluating the success of their public matching-funds program in their most recent election. This article, courtesy of The Providence Journal outlines the broad use of the program, in particular by the challenger to Governor Carcieri, Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty but suggests candidates are disadvantaged if they use the system in a primary against a privately financed opponent.

Let's hear it for more student editorials! Alex Roehrkasse, of the campus-based Clean Elections group, Democracy Matters, writes in the Brown Daily Herald on the public financing system being proposed in Rhode Island: reduce the influence of special interests and restore honest leadership for the price of a few pancakes. Order up!

Connecticut's Journal Inquirer notes the awards given to Governor Jodi Rell and other lawmakers and activists for their work on behalf of publicly financed elections at our event, Seize the Moment: National Activists Conference on the Public Financing of Elections.