One of the hopes of the Citizens Election Program is that more people will participate - more  candidates, greater diversity, fewer unopposed races, more citizens getting involved in the process.   Another hope is that the races will be competitive.  Connecticut's primaries are over, and we can get a glimpse of how public financing is working.  Connecticut is the land of steady habits.   In our case, steady habits have meant that over the past several decades, incumbents in the legislature are among the safest in the nation.  While that can work well in many cases where the incumbents do a great job, democracy thrives on competition.  If incumbents feel too safe, they can lost their sense of being accountable to the people they represent.  Healthy competition insures that candidates strive for re-election, and spend time with their constituents.

How has the Citizens Election program faired over the first batch of primaries?  Quite well, it would appear.  Normally Connecticut sees at most a dozen primaries in the legislative races.  This year there were 18.  While incumbents remained somewhat safe, one challenger prevailed in Bridgeport, and several party endorsed candidates were defeated.  As well, the number of unopposed races has dropped fairly dramatically.  According to numbers from the Secretary of State's office show the number dropping from 71 unopposed races in 2006, to 60 this year.  At least 70% of the candidates running in Connecticut will use the program, and many of them have indicated overall satisfaction with the Citizens Election Program so far.

I've spoken with at least five candidates who said they never would have thought of running for office if CEP weren't available.  From single moms and retired bankers, to a retired cop living in the poorest of neighborhoods, folks from all walks of life are stepping up and offering their skills and ideas to the people of Connecticut.  Many candidates, incumbents and challengers alike, are thrilled with the time they have free from fundraising that they can spend attending community events and walking neighborhoods.  People who are facing tight budgets can give five dollars to their candidate and know they made a real difference.  

It's summer time and the living in easy.  But not in Connecticut.  In Connecticut, Democracy is hard at work.

Connecticut is a cute little state with lots to recommend it.  We have miles of shoreline, the best pizza on the planet (honest!), fabulous universities, proximity to both New York and Boston (makes for some interesting baseball discussions at times), quaint white churches, and many other delights.  Why then, did the "Land of Steady Habits" gain the habit of corruption?  Mayors had problems with cocaine, sex crimes, taking bribes, you name it - and  then Governor Rowland excelled in corruption and accepting hot tubs from contractors.  So much went wrong in such a small state. Perhaps the corruption had its roots in the contrast of the extraordinary wealth of Fairfield County with the stark poverty present in Bridgeport and Waterbury.  

The true reasons why may never be elucidated, but the entrenched corruption did no favors to Connecticut's residents.  This is why the ethics reform passed last week is so remarkable.  For Connecticut to become one of the leading states in ethics reform took major efforts on both the part of the legislature and the advocacy groups that strive every day to protect the citizens in our fair state.  Both legislators and activists have wrestled for years to try and enact reform that would be fair and comprehensive.  One issue that was especially difficult to grapple with was the issue of pension revocation.  There were heated arguments on both sides of this issue which searched for middle ground.  Finally, reform was passed that included pension revocation, but left it up to the court's discretion on whether to remove a pension in response to wrong doing by a state employee.  With some wiggle room left for discretion and compassion, the legislation was able to move forward with supporters on all sides, but it took a great effort and much debate to get there.

Connecticut Common Cause played a major part in getting the ethics reform bill passed.  For years we worked with GAE committee leaders on drafting pension revocation language that was both effective and judicious.  This year, we tried to facilitate communications between the House and Senate in adopting a ethics bill that was acceptable to all.  Finally, Common Cause held a joint press conference with legislative leaders on the legislation to shore up public support and ensure that the Governor would back the bill.  Our efforts paid off, and Connecticut will face the future with a clean face and a fresh start.

Imagine getting a note from your bosses' go to guy requesting a donation - to a favorite charity, to the bosses' bonus fund, to his or her kid's school.  The note said, "You'd better pony up for this!"  What would you do?  Well, in all likelihood, you would whip out your checkbook and start writing.  In this economic climate especially, no one wants to put their job in jeopardy.

But how would it make you feel?  Somewhat used, I imagine.  Perhaps resentful.  What if your boss was an elected official, and the chief of staff was hitting you up for a contribution to the bosses' campaign fund?  You can't say no and expect to get a good job review ever again, and your boss gets a guaranteed flow of funds into his or her campaign coffers.  Oh well, that's the way the game is played, right?

The Connecticut Citizens' Election Program handed the first election grants to qualified candidates at a press conference Tuesday that included some of the state's most prominent elected officials.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, House Majority Leader Rep. Chris Donovan, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and many other officials were on hand to celebrate the arrival of the long-awaited campaign finance reform.

"We expect that we will be changing the face of the elections in CT for good and yes forever. These reforms make Connecticut a national leader in electoral reforms and in fact I believe we are a model for the rest of the nation."

So far, according to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, 145 candidates have opted into the program, though that number is expected to significantly increase in the coming weeks. CT News Junkie wrote:

This past week's news includes another cause for celebration: Minnesota is now the 38th state with a Common Cause chapter.

Politicizing NASA

Josh Zaharoff posted on June 2 the results of an investigation by the NASA inspector general's office. The inspector general found that political appointees in the space agency's public affairs office worked to control and distort public accounts of its researchers' findings about climate change for at least two years.

From the fall of 2004 through 2006, the report said, NASA's public affairs office "managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized, or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public." It noted elsewhere that "news releases in the areas of climate change suffered from inaccuracy, factual insufficiency, and scientific dilution."

Josh points out that "the reason we have career staff at government agencies is to handle such issues without political interference -- the exact opposite of what's happening now, as this story shows."

Last week we in the Connecticut office were fortunate enough to have Bob Edgar visit our small state.  While planning his visit, we  knew we had to have at least one event with our activist community.  We are so lucky in Connecticut to have a large group of people dedicated to grassroots activity.  They've stood on street corners every Saturday for five years holding up signs to try and stop the Iraq War.  They came in droves to phone bank for campaign finance reform.  They door knock and lit drop and attend rallies and marches.  Connecticut Activists Rock!  And in August of 2006 they helped pull off a primary upset that sent signals around the nation when Ned Lamont beat Senator Lieberman. But as the war wears on, as our national government continues to be run my the money machine, as our media keeps on embracing its role as the corporate mouth piece, activists are getting tired.  Is their tireless work actually producing any fruit?

What better way to help keep these dedicated troops energized and to introduce Dr. Edgar to some of the best folks in the state then by hosting a forum with both Dr. Edgar and Ned Lamont?  Both of these men know first hand how important the grassroots are to any effort to speak truth to power - and so the plan was set in motion.  Follow me after the jump and I'll tell you how the evening went.

Here's a recap of Common Cause's work over the past two weeks. We're celebrating hard-won victories regarding the FEC and FCC and highlighting other important work throughout the country.

Federal Election Commission (FEC): We Stopped The White House Again!
On May 16 controversial White House nominee Hans von Spakovsky withdrew his name from consideration for a position on the FEC. Common Cause, working with a coalition of voting rights and reform groups, had opposed von Spakovsky because of his work at the Justice Department rolling back voting rights laws.

Holding power accountable gets exhausting after awhile, doesn't it?

I was at a recent event talking about the importance of voting and how important it is to encourage others to view voting more than annual chore but as a secular sacrament.

The room was filled with the most diehard activists --  the kind that stand on town greens in any kind of weather to protest the war in Iraq and the kind groups like Common Cause depend on to push for reform. They were energetic and eager to the hit the streets in the name of democracy.

Then, something happened.