GOOD CLEAN ELECTIONS BILL ADVANCES

We are witnessing history in the making at the Arizona Legislature. Ever since the voters passed the Citizens Clean Elections Act in 1998, the Legislature has been attempting to repeal, revoke, undermine, or compromise the will of the voters. Just last month your efforts helped stop the latest such attempt when the bill to change the name of Clean Elections (in order to make it easier to repeal) was defeated in the Senate.

Now we have good news. The first serious attempt to make positive improvements to the Clean Elections Act has passed the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote. Although Clean Elections has been a rousing success, with more candidates participating, less special interest money, and higher voter turnout in each succeeding election, we have found a few minor problems and glitches that need tweaking in order to make it function as smoothly and fairly as possible.

House Bill 2690 is the result of a long series of negotiations between the Clean Elections Institute, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, legislators, and other stakeholders. It is a bipartisan bill containing numerous provisions to insure that all candidates are treated fairly and to remove barriers and frustrations from the system. Most notably, it addresses the system’s most serious deficiency by providing significantly increased funding for candidates for statewide office. Although approximately eighty percent of the candidates for statewide office use Clean Elections, it has been demonstrated that they do not get sufficient money to communicate with the voters or to run a truly viable statewide campaign. This is especially important for challengers facing an incumbent officeholder. We would like to particularly thank Rep. Michele Reagan (R-D8), who introduced the bill, and Rep. Chad Campbell (D-D14), who offered the compromise amendments.

Enactment of HB2690 would not only show that bipartisan improvements can be made, but would also eliminate most of the sources of complaint and frustration that provide the foes of Clean Elections with ammunition to continue their efforts to repeal or damage this groundbreaking structure.

Despite its unanimous passage by the House, Senate approval is not certain. Because any change to Clean Elections requires a three-fourths vote to pass, only eight No votes would defeat it in the Senate. Please contact your state senator and ask them to support HB2690. Also, especially if you live in District 19, please contact Senator Chuck Gray and ask him to schedule it for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Thank you for all that you do in support of Clean Elections.

Eric Ehst,

Executive Director