Help us show our legislators there is
grassroots support for Clean Elections!
Our coalition, WV Citizens for Clean Elections,
is sponsoring a year-long petition drive to demonstrate that the
citizens of our state want to change the way our Delegates and Senators
are elected. We want a more diverse field of qualified candidates
to have a fair shot at being elected - without being beholden to special
interest donations. Public campaign financing is working in Maine,
Arizona, North Carolina, and other states, and better public policies
that work for all the voters is a result! You can be involved by
downloading the
petition here and circulating the petition in your community or
organization. Completed petitions can be sent to OVEC at the address at
the top of the petition, P.O. Box 6753, Huntington, WV 25773-6753. We
plan to collect as many signatures as possible to present to Legislative
leaders as we push for passage of the Public Campaign Financing Act
during the 2009 legislative session!
Top Democrats and Republicans just announced a groundbreaking bill to make
our elections more democratic with public financing.
Can you imagine if people could be elected to Congress without massive wealth
and without begging for campaign cash from big donors? Congress wouldn't owe
corporate lobbyists any favors. That's why those very lobbyists will work
overtime to kill this exciting reform.
Let's work to make Congress answer to the people. The first step is to gather
200,000 signatures for this petition: "Congress must pass public financing to
make our elections fair."
Can you help out by signing this petition to Congress? It's really easy
--
just click the here.
Thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters, the
coalition's $15,000 goal for our challenge grant was met by the April 30
deadline! Thank you so much for your assistance! These challenge
grants are a primary source of funding for our work on public campaign
financing and are very important to the continuation of the effort. We
could not reach these fundraising goals without your support and
commitment!
Our political system is
broken. The officials we elect to represent us instead spend their time
chasing big campaign checks and using their votes to do political favors for
big-money special interests and lobbyists.
It's time to do something about it – and we can.
By enacting a system of public financing for elections we can cut the ties
between politicians and the big-money special interests and lobbyists who
currently fund their campaigns. It's called Clean Elections, and it's already
working in seven states and two cities across the country.
Under Clean Elections, qualified candidates who agree to forgo all private
contributions and follow strict spending limits receive public financing for
their campaigns, freeing them from having to chase campaign donations from big
money special interests and lobbyists.
It's a system that's proven to work. Clean Elections has been in place in
Arizona since 2000 and has already reshaped the state's politics. Ten out of 11
statewide officials in Arizona - including Gov. Janet Napolitano - ran and won
"clean" by accepting public financing.
Under a Clean Elections program, voters can go to the polls knowing that
candidates will answer to them, not big-money, special-interest contributors.
We are working to establish the Clean
Elections system here in West Virginia. Visit this website often for updates on
ways you can advance Clean Elections here. And remember to sign the national
petition to:
The success of Maine and Arizona's Clean Election system is documented in a short video, "The Road to Clean Elections" narrated by journalist Bill Moyers. If you would like to receive a copy to share with your friends, neighbors, or others please contact us at
ohvec@ohvec.org or call 304-522-0246.