Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has made a judicial public financing pilot project part of her proposed $30 billion state budget. Called the Judicial Independence Act, it follows the model of Clean Election systems in Arizona, North Carolina and other states wherein candidates collect a set number of small dollar qualifying contributions to receive a set amount of public financing for their campaign. In part a reaction to the record $2.7 million spent statewide by outside parties on judicial races this past year, Gregoire unveiled the proposal along with a committment to work to cut down on the influence of outside special interetts on judicial elections. In her statement accompany the budget proposal the Governor put her support behind the possibilities of public financing: "For the public's perception of judicial races, we need to do our dead-level best to make sure that we've taken on some reform and that we've taken the money out of it the best we can." It's a rare Governor that puts their weight behind efforts to win full public financing systems, we look forward to seeing how Gregoire advances this proposal in the coming weeks and months.  North Carolina has seen it's judicial public financing system operate successfully for two election cycles and it remains popular with both voters and candidates.