Citizen Funded Elections

Today, Common Cause and the Campaign Legal Center filed an amici brief in Washington State’s King County Superior Court in Elster v. City of Seattle in support of the city’s campaign finance voucher program. The brief makes clear that the Seattle program is consistent with a host of other citizen-funded elections programs upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court since campaign finance reforms were enacted in the wake of the Watergate scandals to curb the buying and selling of influence in the halls of government.

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy is promising to veto a state budget plan that would decimate the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP), a national model for campaign finance reform since its adoption more than a decade ago.

There’s news today about an interesting – and promising – experiment in democracy in the Pacific Northwest.

Wednesday’s introduction of the Fair Elections Now Act deserves a tip of the hat to sponsoring Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, and his 23 co-sponsors for continuing to stand up for a good idea.

For a state formerly known as “Corrupticut,” Connecticut has become a national leader in clean, transparent elections with its model public financing program, the Citizens’ Election Program (CEP).

In a post-Citizens United age, when corporations and interest groups can spend whatever they like to influence our elections, it’s more important than ever that we make sure that every American can be heard.