The clean elections law approved by Maine voters a decade ago for statewide offices has proven effective and is a model for federal efforts currently under consideration. Maine's representatives in Washington are poised to play a significant role as debate over electoral reform gets under way in Congress next year.

We urge Maine's congressional delegation to support needed reform to the way our national leaders are elected.

As elected officials, we have been privileged to represent the citizens of our great state in the Maine Legislature, and were elected using the clean elections system. Participation in the clean elections system is high, as more than 80 percent of current state legislators used clean elections to get elected. Clean elections has earned the confidence of Mainers; when Maine voters were asked in a recent poll whether candidates for governor should use clean elections, 82 percent said yes, with 61 percent saying they were more likely to vote for candidates who used it.

We strongly support Maine's clean elections system. We're able to spend our time talking with constituents, working on their behalf instead of spending our time fund-raising for re-election. In addition, the Maine clean elections system curbs the influence of special interests in the legislative process, ensuring that elected officials will answer to voters, not big donors. We believe that our experience with public funding of elections in Maine pro vides much to recommend to national policymakers.