Make Elections About Voters

While not specific to California's Proposition 89, Patrick Bosold lays out a solid case for clean money campaigns in the Des Moines Register:

Clean elections make elections about voters, not campaign donors. Candidates can spend their time talking to constituents instead of spending countless hours wooing major donors. Once in office, clean-elections officials are no longer beholden to special interests and lobbyists.

Candidates who participate in clean elections are supported by voters. In Maine, 83 percent of the state Senate and 77 percent of the state House is made up of legislators who ran as clean-elections candidates. In Arizona, 10 out of 11 statewide offices are held by clean-elections candidates.

I'm very concerned about the role of money in politics and the scandals in Washington. The best way to make elections fair and to restore accountability to people is to implement public financing of elections.

Mr. Bosold isn't the only voter who is concerned about the role of big money in politics. We need reform.