While opponents of Arizona's successful Clean Elections program were able to pass a measure out of the Senate aimed at killing the program this session, news reports show that it might not be as easy in the House, where many freshmen Republican lawmakers used the system and understand why it's so important.

Rep. John Fillmore reminded folks that this was a system approved by the voters, and that his job is to "uphold" their will. He says the resolution, which uses a deceptive tactic to kill the legislation, is "just another method by those who have a problem with Clean Elections to get rid of it."

Clean Elections opponents, and their big money backers, try every year to take the state back to elections that were bought and paid for by special interests--instead of elections of, by, and for the people. Let's hope they lose again this year.

Here's the full story from Arizona Capitol Reports:

CLEAN ELECTIONS; GOP FRESHMEN NOT UNITED
S1025 (public funds; political candidates; ban) passed House jud last week and is awaiting Rules and caucus. GOP House freshman are not united in their support for the measure. For example, Ugenti said that while her experience with the system was very positive, she would support the referral. "The will of the voters is very important to me," she said. "My job is to uphold that." Fillmore, meanwhile, calls the resolution "just another method by those who have a problem with Clean Elections to get rid of it," adding that he thinks the people have already spoken. Barton, who supports Clean Elections, is opposed to sending the measure to voters because she's concerned the public might be swayed by a well-funded campaign to get rid of Clean Elections. Crandell's reaction to it was mixed: he said he thinks that the Legislature might be better off if everyone ran publicly funded campaigns, since no one would be indebted to lobbyists, and political unknowns would be given a fair shot. At the same time, he says he thinks a review of voter initiatives is a good idea every few years. Rick Gray also said that he supports the idea behind publicly funded elections, but given the fiscal crisis the state is facing, he thinks the voters should have a say as to whether or not it should be extended. "When voters approved it, we were not in this financial state," he said.