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ABOUT
Dear Fellow Citizen,
CleanElectionsPA.org was established prior to the primary election of 2006. The idea was to provide voters with an on-line resource from which they could learn the candidates' positions on publicly funded elections. Candidates were offered the opportunity to have their comments posted on CleanElecitonPA.org for voters to review.
By the general election of that year, a new and similar service was begun nationally by the groups Common Cause, Public Campaign Action Fund, and Public Citizen. Rather than requesting comments from candidates, this effort asks candidates to sign "The Voters First Pledge", a pledge to put the voters interests first, ahead of the special interests. The pledge centers on a commitment to establish a system of public funding for federal election campaigns.
Since 2006, CleanElectionsPA has been reporting Pennsylvania's congressional candidates' willingness to take the "The Voters First Pledge" and collecting congressional incumbents' past statements on the issue of publicly funded election campaigns. Because "The Voters First Pledge" campaign does not yet reach out to candidates in primary campaigns, in the Spring of 2008 CleanElectionsPA contacted congressional candidates in contested races in Pennsylvania and posted their comments prior to the primary election.
Our democracy is broken and fixing it is up to each of us. You need to contact your Members of Congress and thank them for co-sponsoring the "Fair Elections Now Act", or if are not yet a co-sponsor, ask them "Why not?".
Then you need to tell your friends about CleanElectionsPA.org or any of the other groups supporting the "Fair Elections Now Act".
We don't work for any group or party and we are not seeking contributions. We want you, the citizen, to understand publicly funded elections. If there is any way that CleanElectionsPA.org can better serve you in that effort, or if you would like to work together to push for the passage of the "Fair Elections Now Act", please contact me.
Sincerely,
Frank Kirkwood
Organizer, CleanElectionsPA.org