Depending on how the state legislative elections results shake out in New York come November we could be looking at much improved odds for passing a Clean Elections bill there in the coming year. New York Governor David Paterson (D) is certainly a supporter of Clean Elections, if not the most outspoken on the subject, and state activists are keeping up the drumbeat for movement on legislation -- see this letter to the editor in Binghamton.

Hilda Wilcox of Cooperstown writes:

Have we lost the American dream? New Yorkers can regain it by passing a bill for full public financing of elections, which has languished in committee for too many years.


By adopting this Clean Elections bill, candidates don't have to be born rich or beg for money from corporations they will later have to repay with tax breaks and other perks. They can represent all of us.


Must legislators always spend time dialing for dollars if they plan to stay in office more than one term, time better spent on taking care of their responsibilities as public servants? No, not if we elect representatives smart enough to follow the example of legislators in Maine, Arizona and Connecticut, who have already passed Clean Elections bills.