As Alaska gets ready to vote August 26th on Proposition 3 that would create a Clean Elections system in the state supporters of full public financing of campaigns are rallying to get the word out. The recent indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) for his connection with the Veco bribery scandal has turned fresh attention problems of money and politics which will hopefully drive more people to the polls on the 26th.Meanwhile, this letter by Mimi Rossen in the Kodiak Daily Mirror suggests that if Alaskans vote yes for Clean Elections they'll help put an end to twisted priorities at the state house that let Alaska's wealthy oil industry buy profitable policy -- and that could save money in the long term: How does that translate into dollars? It’s pretty obvious the state maintained an oil tax rate of 22.5 percent only because of the support of corrupt politicians who were beholden to VECO and other oil interests. If it had raised that rate to the current 25 percent just one year earlier, the state coffers would have netted as much as $2 billion more. (No that’s not a typo. I said billion.) That works out to over $3,000 per resident, which is not a bad return on your $9 investment. It would also be enough to finance clean elections for the next two centuries.