Voter Owned Hawai'i: The Reform That Makes All Other Reforms Possible

 


 
 

VOH CONTINUES THE FIGHT TO GET BIG MONEY OUT OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS!

Ask Gov. Lingle To Sign The Big Island Public Funding Bill Here!

Campaign funding advances
Derrick DePledge, Honolulu Advertiser
April 25, 2008
"A pilot project to experiment with public financing of Big Island County Council campaigns is moving toward final approval after state House and Senate lawmakers agreed in principle yesterday on a draft. Lawmakers in conference committee chose to drop from the bill a controversial proposal to clarify a limit on corporate campaign contributions that activists feared would poison the proposal." MORE

Senate is playing cynical game with public election bill
David Shapiro, Honolulu Advertiser
April 16, 2008
"... Senators responded by cynically poisoning the House bill for publicly funded elections by amending it to include their increases in corporate contributions--creating a mocking piece of legislation that works at cross purposes with itself." MORE

Senate should enable voter-owned elections
Editorial, Honolulu Advertiser
March 11, 2008
"Participation in local politics has increased in states where public campaign funding has been enacted: Maine, Arizona, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico and Vermont." MORE

Follow the money into pols' pockets
Dave Shapiro, Honolulu Advertiser
February 27, 2008
"A coalition of public-interest groups is working hard to stop the Legislature from revoking a $1,000 cap on corporate political donations per two-year election cycle that lawmakers say they passed by mistake." MORE


Clean Elections video with Bill Moyers

Campaign reformers rebuke bill to lift limits on corporate donations
Richard Borreca, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
February 27, 2008
"Barbara Wong, commission executive director, said the House bill would 'support the absurd results of the court's ruling that corporations can use unlimited funds from their treasury to make contributions ... overturning 27 years of legislative history that promotes transparency of corporate campaign contributions." MORE

Group asks lawmakers to consider full public funding of elections
Nancy Cook Lauer, West Hawaii Today
February 26, 2008
"A group advocating full public funding of elections has launched an e-mail and media campaign asking lawmakers to pass a bill allowing Hawaii County Council races to serve as a pilot project." MORE

Bill proposes public funding of elections
B. J. Reyes, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
February 26, 2008
"A coalition of Big Island lawmakers, public-interest groups, Democratic Party officials and citizens is urging the Legislature to back a proposal to test the viability of publicly financed elections." MORE

Nearly $5M Sitting in Hawaii Election Fund
KGMB9 News
February 25, 2008
"When you check the box on your taxes to donate to the campaign fund. That money goes into a collection. Now, millions of taxpayer dollars are sitting unused. Some groups want to make it easier for candidates to tap into what's in that fund." MORE
  "While Congress wallows in the ethical swamp where money and politics meet, one more state just found a way out. Voters [in Connecticut] will pay for campaigns, which might be the bargain of the century. They'll save countless dollars doled from public coffers to the favor seekers who fund campaigns now."
-- USA TODAY EDITORIAL

”Public financing is the difference between being able to go out and spend your time talking with voters, meeting with groups, . . . traveling to communities that have been under-represented in the past, as opposed to being on the phone selling tickets to a $250 a plate fundraiser.” -- Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, elected under Arizona's Voter Owned Elections program

“We Clean Elections [Voter Owned Elections] pioneers are a more independent bunch, especially because we’re not worrying about how we’re going to raise the big bucks to win our next race. Lobbyists for special interests tend to spend less time with us, which makes it easier to get through the Capitol halls in time for a vote.” -- Glenn Cummings, & Ed Youngblood, Maine State legislators, elected using Voter Owned Elections