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

 


 
 

CONTRATULATIONS! THE BIG ISLAND PUBLIC FUNDING BILL PASSED!

Big Isle set to try public election funding
Kevin Dayton, Honolulu Advertiser
June 25, 2008
"HILO, Hawai'i -- Candidates for the nine Big Island County Council seats will be able to use public money to finance their campaigns in 2010 in the first Hawai'i test of fully publicly funded elections.
      "Big Island County Councilman Bob Jacobson, who introduced the council resolution in support of the project, said advancing public election financing may be one of his most significant contributions during his three terms on the council because it could trigger 'profound change' in county government."
      "Public funding advocates such as Kory Payne, community organizer for Voter Owned Hawai'i, predict public funding will boost voter participation and increase the number of people who run for public office." MORE


Clean Elections video with Bill Moyers

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
  "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