My commitment is to really clean up the political corruption citizens now understand is at the heart of all the urgent problems we are facing today. Few people are unaware of the "perfect storm" of environmental, economic, social and political crisis that threaten us today and most importantly threaten our children's and grandchildren's future. As Chair of our bipartisan Santa Clarita Valley Clean Money for Better Government committee, founded in 2005, I have been working to educate the public about CLEAN MONEY which will clean up government by restoring the balance between Corporate wants and the people's needs. As last weeks brew-ha-ha about G&L giving Laurie Enders $30,000 shows, we need serious campaign finance reform on every level of government.

We are living in an era much like the Gilded Age and the Roaring 20's when Corporate hijacking of the political system brought about terrible hardship and massive social and economic problems. Now our challenges are much more serious because Corporate abuse has brought us to the point of environmental collapse. It will take the will of the people and the commitment of courageous political leaders to lead us back to safer shores where, as the Greeks taught us, we must exercise "moderation in all things" in order to succeed. The era of Corporate plunder and excess is over. This is the year the people will be able to take the political reigns again.

The California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, (AB 583) is modeled after other CLEAN MONEY programs that have been successful in Arizona, Maine, Connecticut, North Carolina and every where else it is being tried. (see http://www.caclean.org) The CLEAN MONEY act (AB 583), authored by Assembly member Loni Hancock (D-East Bay) and sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign, will set up a voluntary system of publicly-funded political campaigns for the Secretary of State's race in 2014 and 2018. This will serve as a pilot project to show the public how well Clean Money will work and make sure the details are right for California. It is patterned after the successful Clean Money systems working in Arizona and Maine for eight years, adapted for California's unique electoral circumstances. If passed and signed by the governor, AB 583 will be placed before the voters on the June 2010 ballot.

The bill will require candidates to gather 7,500 $5 qualifying contributions and signatures from registered California voters to show that they have a broad base of support. They sign a legally binding agreement not to take any money from outside sources and not to use their own money. They are given baseline public funds to run competitive primary campaigns ($900,000). If they win their primary they receive enough baseline public funds to run competitive general election campaigns ($1,300,000). If Clean Money Candidates are outspent by an opponent who does not participate or if independent groups attack them or support their opponent, they receive matching funds on a dollar for dollar basis within 24 hours to respond, up to total funding of 4 times the base amount, i.e. $3,200,000 in a primary and $5,200,000 in the general election. AB 583 will be paid for by voluntary contributions designated on state tax returns and by a registration fee of $350 a year on lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers, the same as in Illinois. (Non-profits 501c3s pay $25/year). Currently lobbyists only pay $25 every two years in California.

By giving qualified Secretary of State Candidates the option to run entirely with public funds instead of private campaign contributions, AB 583 will insure that voters will never need to have any question about who they're accountable to when they oversee California's elections.

Supporting CLEAN MONEY is something easy we can do to actually give us serious hope of fixing our broken election system and finally let voters again take control of politics.

The California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act will allow anyone running for the Secretary of State office to run "clean" - that is, only use public campaign finance money. Eventually when the voters see that this as a preferable way to elect our legislators/constitutional officers, we can move to electing all our legislators and officers using the Clean Money option. This current bill is a "test" that will set up full public financing of election campaigns for the Sec. of State office in California. If it passes, it will hold the Sec of State accountable to the voters because the public will pay for their campaigns rather than big money contributors. This idea is making things better in other states and California deserves it too. It's an exciting ideal.

The bill is moving through the Assembly and State Senate and has a good chance of passing, but big money special interests will fight it all the way. It will only pass if legislators know the people are demanding it. I hope you will let our legislators know we want real campaign finance reform. Go to http://www.caclean.org/letters/index.php to express your support of the bill.