In Washington, DC, it's business as usual. The other night, Republicans
took in over $33 million at a gala featuring President Bush. Hundreds
of corporations with pending matters before the administration,
including the Big Five accounting firms of Ernst and Young, Deloitte
& Touche and KPMG; energy conglomerates, defense contractors,
pharmaceutical and tobacco companies, ponied up $50,000 to $500,000
each, getting intimate high-level meetings with top administration
and congressional officials in exchange. Democrats attacked the
RNC for selling a September 11 photo of Bush onboard Air Force
One as crassly capitalizing on the tragic events of that day,
but the real scandal was the wholesale auction of public offices
to wealthy private donors.

Meanwhile, something inspiring is taking place outside the Beltway,
where real change always begins. With filing deadlines approaching
for office-seekers in Arizona and Maine, a bumper crop of serious
contenders are lining up to run "clean" for statewide
office in 2002. This extensive participation demonstrates deepening
support for these states' far-reaching systems of full public
financing for candidates who agree to raise little private money
and abide by strict spending limits.

In Arizona, 29 out of the 34 declared candidates for statewide
office are participating in Clean Elections, including 7 out of
8 major candidates for governor. Janet Napolitano, the current
Attorney General and leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate,
has already handed in more than 6,000 qualifying contributions
of $5 (2,000 more than needed) and received her first grant of
$409,950 in public funding. So far, 44% of the candidates for
state legislative office have announced their participation, up
from 27% in 2000.

In Maine, two gubernatorial candidates, a Republican, Jim Libby,
and a Green Independent, Jonathan Carter, have been certified
for Clean Elections funding. (Libby stands to get almost $315,000
for his primary battle with a traditionally-funded candidate,
while Carter will get about $42,000 for his uncontested primary.
In the general election, these gubernatorial candidates could
receive as much as $1.1 million.) A total of 206 out of 375 candidates
for the state legislature have been certified, or 55%. That's
a big jump compared to 2000, when 31% of all the primary candidates
ran "clean."

Listen to what these would-be public servants have to say about
the transforming effects of this process:

The day Jim Libby, a Republican former state legislator who is
running for governor of Maine, brought in his tub-full of 2,618
$5 qualifying contributions, he said, "It's in the best interests
of the people of the state of Maine. It's not just some fad. It's
here to stay." On his campaign website, he tells voters that
he is proud to be taking public financing. "I will not be
coming to you, for example, with my hand outstretched, looking
for a big personal contribution, while at the same time taking
money from a special interest that you do not support. I refuse
to go to the Blaine House having to give a copy of the keys to
the mansion to some special interest lobbyist."

Jonathan Carter, the Green Independent party's gubernatorial
candidate, says that "clean" funding will make him "beholden
only to the people of the state of Maine." He and Republican
Libby actually gave each other $5 qualifying contributions. "We
[both] believe in a democracy where all ideas can be heard and
then the people decide in a fair way," Carter commented,
"and it shouldn't be influenced by big money and special
interests."

The day that Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano dropped
off her qualifying contributions and nominating petitions, she
said, "I feel like I just completed a final exam. It's been
a great grass-roots Phase I of the campaign. You don't have to
come to a $250-a-plate dinner to take part. Most people can afford
$5 and can invest in a candidate for governor." She told
the Arizona Republic, "I sat in my office for five or six
hours a day asking people for money when I ran for attorney general
[in 1998]. This is definitely the wave of the future."

"If people elect a Clean candidate, it will take away the
special interest hammer," says Wes Gullett, campaign strategist
for Secretary of State Betsey Bayless, a Republican candidate
for governor who is still in the process of collecting her qualifying
contributions. "It will change the way Arizona is governed."

Current legislators from Maine and Arizona who participated in
Clean Elections in 2000 say that not only did that experience
cause them to run campaigns that were more grass-roots oriented-"you
have to talk to people more," says Beth Edmonds, a Democratic
state senator from Maine-it has changed life in the statehouse.
Edmonds, the chair of the senate's labor committee, recalls the
debate over a bill to give more overtime to truckers. "All
the trucking companies were in my committee room. The truckers
themselves weren't there. But I know I haven't taken a penny from
the companies and they know that too. None of them have any ownership
of me."

"Working with lobbyists now is fascinating," adds state
representative Jim Sedillo, a Democrat from Arizona. "Their
approach is 'may we talk to you and share some information,' not,
'I did something for you, now you owe me.'"

Let's leave the last words to Jim Brunelle, a columnist for the
Portland Press Herald who has closely followed the advent of Clean
Elections in Maine. On May 3rd, he wrote, "The crush of clean-elections
candidates filing for legislative seats this year demonstrates
an enormous jump in popularity for the system....Two years ago
the amount of private contributions poured into the election was
about half what had gone into the 1998 legislative campaigns.
Overall spending fell by nearly 20 percent. Look for both figures
to show an even more impressive decline this year, proving that
the new system is getting better and better at doing what it is
supposed to do....The important thing is that more politicians
are beginning to embrace the new system. The experience has been
a promising one, and four years from now it is likely that more
candidates for governor will use clean elections funding. Slowly
but surely, the people of Maine are regaining direct control over
the state's election process. Rejoice."