In a closely contested race in Connecticut, incumbent
Rep. Chris Shays (R) and challenger Jim Himes (D) agreed yesterday that changing the way we pay for our elections is critical:
During that rare light moment, they agreed that public financing needs to be adopted for congressional campaigns to prevent the proliferation of lobbyists, political action committees and special interests who this year are making Connecticut's tight 4th District race one of the most-expensive in the country.
Perhaps it has something to do with the dramatic initial success of the Connecticut
Citizens Elections public financing program, which began this year. In addition, last week,
we sent a letter to every congressional candidate and asked them to sign the Voters First Pledge.
As the nation faces its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, now is the time for bold reforms to both the financial and political systems. Wall Street and powerful financial interests should not be funding campaigns for Congress if we want a political system that truly works for the American people.
The time is long overdue for members of Congress to do what the majority of Americans now know they should do: Make genuine reform of campaign finance a top legislative priority in 2009.
Himes and Shays need to make it official that they're on board -- you can see the signers
here -- but it's great that this important reform issue entered their debate in its final weeks.
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