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Friday, April 9, 2010

Action Alert: Don't Let the AZ Leg Sell Democracy to the Highest Bidder|Save Citizens Clean Elections Act


Twelve years ago, Arizona voters created the Citizens Clean Elections Act to kick big money out of politics. At the time, the state was still reeling from the AZScam scandal, when politicians traded money for votes with developers, corporations and mobsters.1

But the Clean Elections Act has changed Arizona politics one $5 bill at a time. Under the law, candidates who demonstrate community support by collecting a bunch of $5 qualifying contributions can use a shared pool of money to run a competitive election.2 That cuts big donors and corporations out of the process and keeps the focus where it belongs - on working Arizonans and their interests.

But with budgets tight because of the recession, those big donors and their buddies in the Legislature want to repeal the Clean Elections Act, use the money for something else and get back to the bad old days when decisions were made by the highest bidder.3

A bill to kill clean elections has already been introduced in the Legislature and a vote could come soon.4 But you can stop it. Click here to send your elected leaders a message supporting Clean Elections:

Candidates who run using the Clean Elections system really ARE different: After a majority of the Arizona Corporation Commission ran and won using the Clean Elections Act, they passed a law requiring that 15 percent of all power produced in Arizona come from renewable energy sources by 2025.5 And new candidates are signing up to use the system every day.6

Opponents of Clean Elections say the program is too expensive. But not a single dollar of Clean Elections money comes from Arizona's cash-strapped General Fund -- in fact, the Clean Elections Fund has donated $20 million to the General Fund in the last two years alone.7

But this fight isn't really about budgets. This is about power: If the people fund elections, then we still have the power to decide who's in charge and what kind of laws they make. But if elections are for sale to the highest bidder, then people like us get cut out in favor of corporations, rich folk and out-of-state donors.

That's not the democracy we want or deserve. Act now to save the Citizens Clean Elections Act.

-Drew

Drew Hudson
TrueMajority / USAction

1 - time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972359,00.html
2 - azcleanelections.gov/home.aspx
3 - kpho.com/news/22920525/detail.html
4 - azcapitoltimes.com/blog/2010/04/01/facing-defeat-measures-to-gut-clean-elections-system-held-in-committee/
5 - azcc.gov/divisions/utilities/electric.asp
6 - tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2010/03/29/first-in-the-crowded-house-democrat-bob-gilby-files-in-ld27
7 - azadvocacy.org/issues/cleanelections.html