Public Campaign President Nick Nyhart responds to exaggerated claims made by a Washington Post columnist in regards to Arizona's Clean Elections law. "Any claim that Arizona's Clean Elections system is to blame for the passage of Arizona's controversial immigration bill is just plain wrong. "Eighty percent of the elected lawmakers who voted against the immigration measure used Clean Elections -- all of them Democrats. Only 54 percent who voted "yes" ran under the program. The vast majority of Arizona's Latino lawmakers used the law to get elected, and the state's Latino voters strongly support Clean Elections. In a recent Zogby International poll of Arizona voters, Latinos surveyed supported Clean Elections by a 5-to-1 margin. Hard-line conservatism is a national phenomenon, and Arizona's right-wing political positioning isn't new. "Clean Elections allows candidates to run for office on a set amount of public funds after raising a large number of small contributions from their district. Clean Elections in Arizona has helped shift power back to the grass roots, much to the chagrin of political heavyweights and their big-money backers." Public Campaign also posted a blog piece earlier this week lambasting the column and correcting the misconceptions.