Nick Nyhart, executive director of Public Campaign, and Chellie Pingree, president and CEO of Common Cause, have an Op-Ed appearing in today's Oregonian entitled "Why can't Washington be more like Portland?" The piece talks about Portland's new Voter Owned Elections law (aka publicly financed elections), how Portland is now a model for the rest of the nation, and reminding the readership to be mindful of opposition to the publicly financed system coming from power special interests and big business. The full Op-Ed is below: IN MY OPINION - CAMPAIGN FINANCE Why can't Washington be more like Portland? Tuesday, June 27, 2006 NICK NYHART AND CHELLIE PINGREE The Oregonian As directors of national campaign finance reform groups, our e-mail in-boxes overflow each morning with fresh tales of scandal, ranging from yet another favor for a lobbyist who has been generous with campaign contributions to a congressman stashing special-interest cash in his freezer. While it is our job to expose these scandals and fight for change, the task is immense and the obstacles formidable. The current entrenched pay-to-play system leads to our weak health-care system, as well as weak environmental and consumer protections. Lawmakers must concentrate on pleasing their donors rather than meeting the needs of their constituents. In sharp contrast, the success of the recent primary in Portland makes us hopeful that a system of public campaign financing can work nationally. Under the new system in Portland, the playing field for candidates was more level. Special interests pulled fewer strings. And there were new options for participation by residents from all over the city. Here's why Portland's elections offered a more level playing field. Typically, incumbents have a huge fundraising advantage over challengers. Not so in Portland this year. Incumbent City Council members Erik Sten and Dan Saltzman spent amounts on par with their challengers. While they both won their races, it was not because they had a big money advantage. In addition, the opportunity to run was available to anybody who qualified under the new system -- not just those who had ties to big-money private donors. Here's how special-interest influence is down. Sten, who ran as a "voter-owned election" candidate, can now focus on community concerns, period. He does not need to worry about even the perception that he is influenced by powerful private donors. And while Saltzman ran as a privately funded candidate, he capped his individual contributions at $500 and spent less than in his previous elections. Had Saltzman opted into the Voter-Owned Elections system, he would have severed the link between his campaign and special-interest donors. Nevertheless, the clout of donors in his campaign was reduced. Indeed, the intense opposition to the new campaign finance system from big-business power players such as Portland General Electric, Qwest and Comcast shows just how threatened they feel. After all, now a janitor's $5 contribution to help a candidate qualify for public funding counts as much as $5,000 from a major downtown property owner. Finally, here's how more Portland residents participated in the publicly financed election. Candidates who ran with public funding collected their $5 qualifying contributions from a far larger range of Portland neighborhoods than candidates did when picking up their checks from private donors. Portland is not the only locality that has passed public financing for elections. The same reform is in place in Albuquerque, N.M. And Arizona, Connecticut and Maine have full public financing for legislative and statewide offices, while New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina and Vermont have adopted this reform for other races. If only Congress would follow the lead of Portland, Albuquerque and these states. A federal Clean Elections Act -- HR 3099 -- would bring a system similar to Portland's to congressional campaigns. Oregon's Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio are co-sponsoring this important legislation, and we urge Reps. David Wu, D-Ore., Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., to sign on quickly. We also ask Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to work with us to introduce similar legislation in the Senate. Portlanders ought be proud of their achievement with public campaign financing -- and we welcome them to shout about it to their representatives in the nation's capital, where we so sorely need reform. Nick Nyhart is executive director of Public Campaign, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group advocating for campaign finance reform. Chellie Pingree is president and chief executive officer of Common Cause, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that advocates for citizens in the political process.