Fair Elections Action Week has wrapped up but not without a few more media mentions of the efforts to win full public financing of elections both at the state and federal level. A good letter to the editor in Indianapolis about the Fair Elections Now Act, and this letter to the editor in Kodiak, Alaska about state efforts to win a Clean Elections system.

From Nathan Compton, writing to the Indianapolis Star:

In exit polls after the 2006 elections, when asked which issue was extremely important to their vote, more voters said "corruption and ethics in government" than any other issue. There is growing evidence that our elected officials are beholden to the wishes of wealthy special interest groups and the needs of average citizens are no longer a priority.

The U.S. Senate has introduced a bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act that would create a voluntary system of public funding for Senate candidates. The option of public funding would give our elected officials the chance to run a competitive campaign without the strings associated with accepting millions of dollars from special interest groups. I urge Sens. Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar to support this bill and take an important first step in returning power to the average citizen.

The same principles that are outlined by the Fair Elections Now Act apply to state and local government as well. A coalition of concerned citizens has started to examine the possibility of fair elections in Indiana. Please visit www.indianacleanelections.org to learn how you can make a difference.

Nathan Compton

Indianapolis

And here's an excerpt from Dick Ross' letter to the Kodiak Daily Mirror:

Corporate money in politics is one of the biggest challenges facing our democracy. Recent criminal trials of state legislators and others have emphasized the fact that our political process has been held hostage by big money and special interests for some time. The state may have lost as much as a billion dollars in revenues because of corruption during last year’s oil tax legislation.

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More info can be found by googling “Alaskans for Clean Elections” if you have Internet access, or contact Dick Ross, 486-6428, for information or to sign up.