Sen. Dan Foster (D-Kanawha County) was a practicing surgeon for 23 years before joining Charleston Area Medical Center working on patient quality issues. And while running for office was never something he had thought seriously about, soon, "people came to me and encouraged me to run for the House of Delegates," he said.

In 2002, he won a seat in the House in a socio-economically diverse district - affluent Charleston business owners as well as blue collar and poor families. It wasn't long until he was asked to run for an opening Senate seat. He won that too. His Senate district is all of Kanawha County-which includes the fairly liberal capitol of Charleston as well as more conservative areas in the north. .

He's been in the legislature for nearly five years and holds seats on a variety of committees--Chair of the Pensions Committee and a member of five others. While he says he enjoys campaigning, he does not like having to spend his time raising money. "Nobody likes to raise money. We like to talk to people and discuss issues - and that's not as big a factor as it should be," Sen. Foster said.

And as campaigns become more expensive, West Virginia legislators are going to be spending more time dialing for dollars instead of talking with their constituents about the challenges facing them and their families. In West Virginia, for instance, winning candidates for Senate seats raised an average of $100,000 in 2004-an increase of nearly 50 percent from 2000, according to data from the Institute on Money in State Politics.

"There is too much influence of money in the system," Sen. Foster said. That's why he is a sponsor of Clean Elections bill for the state. "There is too much money and it affects what we do."

Clean Elections is a proven reform that puts voters ahead of dollars and big campaign donors. The system works by allowing candidates to receive a public grant to run their campaign after showing broad community support by collecting a set amount of small-usually five dollars-donations from their district. After qualifying, they must adhere to strict spending limits and forgo all private fundraising.

"States that have instituted Clean Elections laws have been successful, and they have been successful in their public policy," Sen. Foster commented. Today, 84 percent of the Maine legislature and nine out of 11 statewide elected officials in Arizona, including Governor Janet Napolitano, were elected using Clean Elections. It is law in five other states and two cities as well.

"This type of approach to campaigns would have an impact on every aspect of policy," he said. "When trying to deal with an issue, often political will is related to actual or perceived money or contributions."

And not only does Sen. Foster believe that Clean Elections is necessary for passing good public policy, but that it would bring more people into the political process. "There is cynicism by the citizenry of the political process and this would decrease that. People would have more faith in the political process."

"You have fewer uncontested races, people who wouldn't normally run can, and people are more willing to get involved."

Sen. Foster is optimistic about passing a Clean Elections bill in the state. "Support grew last year. It's been growing every year since I've been in the legislature"

While Sen. Foster said he has no plans of being a career politician, let's hope he stays in office long enough to help shepherd through this important legislation.