Why YES on 3?
Aug. 7, 2008
To the editor:
Clean Elections will be on the primary ballot in just a few weeks, but the initiative has gotten little media attention and many voters may not understand how they would benefit.
This citizens initiative to clean up state politics is dubbed Clean Elections, but that phrase will not appear in the initiative. Instead, the public will vote on whether or not to publicly fund political campaigns.
Giving money to politicians to bad-mouth each other seems absurd at first & but it turns out that when their campaigns are funded by the people, politicians work for the people and do a better job of it increasing state revenue in the long run. Incumbents, despite their connections and power, become vulnerable: They can either accept public funding, and spend their time and energy on voters and issues instead of fundraising, or lose their seats to those who will.
Politicians supported by public funding tend to have diverse backgrounds, and bring new ideas and energy to state legislatures. Best of all, publicly funded legislators are not indebted to corporations looking to influence their decisions.
If voters know that publicly funding political campaigns is a sure way to take big money out of Alaska politics, stopping the next VECO scandal before it starts, they will give it overwhelming approval; but they need more information. Find out about what publicly funded campaigns have done for the seven states where they are enacted, including Arizona and Maine, by searching the Internet. Those voters will never go back to letting big business buy their governments.