Arizona State Representative Ed Ableser (D) was fascinated with politics from a very young age, but had no intention of running for office until he became frustrated with the war in Iraq.  He was especially concerned with the Patriot Act, a piece of legislation he deems harmful to the American people.  The Iraq war, plus the opportunity to use Clean Elections, motivated Ableser to pursue elected office.  In 2005 when State Senator Harry Mitchell resigned in order to run for Congress, Ableser was appointed to the State Senate to serve the last year of  the term. After the Senate term ended, he decided that he wanted to continue to represent the district and successfully ran for the State House in 2006. When not representing his district that covers parts of Tempe and Scottsdale, Ableser is a mental health counselor in two Phoenix area schools.  His profession doesn’t allow much time for networking with big donors, corporations, or lobbyists so he knew he had to run under public financing.  In his district candidates are expected to run under Clean Elections; if you don’t, Ableser says, “You’re going to lose by a landslide.” Arizona law requires that Clean Elections candidates collect a set number of $5 qualifying contributions in order to receive a grant from the state to pay for their campaign. Once qualified, candidates must adhere to strict spending limits and forgo all private fundraising. Instead of spending their time raising money, candidates spend all their time talking with voters. Ableser says that he was relieved to run under Clean Elections because “you don’t have to go out and dial for dollars and ask friends and family for thousands of dollars.”   Collecting the $5 contributions by going door-to-door in the community took only three months during his first campaign. It’s easy to build a donor list when you’re only asking for $5 donations because “people are really willing to give.” During his third campaign, Ableser collected the contributions within one month.  Ableser has been active in the Tempe area for years volunteering at churches and working with the impoverished.  He even won the city of Tempe’s Martin Luther King Jr. Award in 2004 for his work with the homeless population.  Clean Elections allows him to continue to address these community issues rather than spend his time fundraising. Under Clean Elections, Ableser’s fundraising is finished come April 1. And after he’s done qualifying he doesn't have to “ask a single person for another dollar the rest of the campaign.” Instead, he can spend his time going to town meetings and community events, listening to the voters. People who don't have the resources to run for office are able to do so under Clean Elections, and they are able to legislate without having to worry about where their next campaign contribution is going to come from. In the capital,  it is easy to tell which legislators ran under Clean Elections and which did not. Ableser says that he can look at lobbyists and say “I don’t care what you say or do, you have no bearing on me.”  Most importantly, Clean Elections encourages a politically engaged electorate that is better served by its representatives. Under the Clean Election system, candidates are evaluated based on “the merits of [their] position,” not the money they have in their campaign coffers.   Ableser strongly believes in Clean Elections and, “if you really care about democracy…this is the best type of system.”