We need serious health care reform, but all we get is a Medicare Drug Bill designed to the advantage of drug and insurance companies. Bush is in denial about Global Warming. Mine owners are allowed to put mine safety on the back burner. Why? Because currently corporate lobbyists rule. This is not news. Recently Jim Lehrer interviewed Dick Cheney on PBS's; The NewsHour. They talked about Bush's 2006 budget which proposes more money for the military and tax breaks for the wealthy. Cheney commented that "[Bush] made some tough decisions ... about 140 programs ... proposed to be reduced or eliminated. He, you know, he gets paid to make these decisions ..." My question is, by whom – people like Jack Abramoff?

According to Micah L. Sifry and Nancy Watzman in their book "Is That a Politician in Your Pocket?" corporations and other wealthy interests give about $2 million a day to elected officials and parties. Their reward is approximately $160 billion a year in tax breaks, subsidies, and other benefits – think Halliburton government contracts.

How do we, the citizens, take control back and renew our democracy? I say through public campaign financing. It is time to start enacting clean money election laws.

Since Abramoff pleaded guilty, Republicans have been jumping through hoops to make it look like they are cleaning things up. While they limit former members' access to the gym and do other band aid fixes, they mostly ignore campaign funding. Some door has to be left open for lobby money, I guess

As it is unrealistic to think significant changes will be made on the National level soon, we could start on a small scale at the local level. Three states have already enacted significant state-wide campaign finance reform – Arizona, Maine and recently Connecticut. Because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, these public campaign finance systems must be voluntary. Even so, they are working well. In Arizona, 10 out of 11 statewide offices, 58% of the House seats and 23% of the Senate seats are held by clean money candidates. In Maine, 77% of the House seats and 83% of the Senate seats are held by clean money candidates.* Washington State needs to follow this lead now.

Washington Public Campaigns (WPC) is a group working on this issue here. Their greatest hope for 2006 is to pass legislation to lift a ban on public financing in local elections.* I hope we can think soon about enacting a system like those used in Arizona and Maine. WPC calculated that about $43.3 million was spent on the 2000 and 2002 state-wide election cycle in our state. If 75% of these elections had been conducted with clean money, the cost per citizen would have been approximately $1.36.* Given tax breaks, subsidies and other benefits lobbyists win from the government, I think each citizen would have come out ahead

If local clean money law enactment spread through the country, then we could think bigger. As US Representatives and Senators evolve from state positions, and remember how free they were to follow their conscience or their constituencies' desires as clean candidates, perhaps we could ultimately have Congressional clean money campaigns. Then one day, even our Presidential campaigns could become clean. I call this the "Trickle-Up Theory." Let's start the process now.

*PI = Seattle Post Intelligencer Reporter