This morning I was privileged to address the Connecticut State Convention of Missionary Baptists.  There, in a room of about 200 people, I was the lone white person - talking to a huge crowd who came to the convention to discuss their religion, praise God, and commune with fellow Baptists.  I was nervous beforehand.  Would these good people really want to listen to a white activist talking about something that had nothing to do with their convention or mission?  I had confidence that I would be politely received, but was unsure whether I could generate any enthusiasm for the program.

At times it feels like the work we do to bring fairness to our government is endless.  No sooner do we gain one victory, than we need to confront another injustice.  It can be discouraging.  Yet by looking at it a little differently, it can be very empowering.  It is the timeless nature of our work for justice that is empowering.

When I was six years old our country was involved in a senseless war far away.  We had a President that thought he was above the
law and ended up resigning in disgrace and members of Common Cause gathered to work together to address the problems our nation faced.  There was camaraderie and friendship.  These friendships have lasted over the years as one injustice gets beaten back after another.  These friendships have passed from generation to generation.

Last night, volunteers gathered at the Connecticut Common Cause office, to continue the tradition, to fight for what is right, to renew friendships, and to bring new, young people into the fold.

It was my first evening as a senior organizer at one of these events.  It was my daughter's first evening, as a six year old, at one of these events.  We have both come away with deeper commitment to Common Cause and all it stands for.

I stand in awe of all that our Connecticut Common Cause members have done over the years.  Truly it is amazing to see what a concerned body of citizens can do if they work together and speak truth to power.  From civil rights to open government to ethics reform, over the years our members have always come out to help us fight the good fight.

After all they have done, what can we do to repay them?  The best thing we can do is to take on the mantle of reform they have upheld and pass it to a new generation of activists and volunteers.  Last night I saw this in action as my six year old daughter sat with a group of new volunteers and regaled them with tales of kindergarten as they assembled candidate kits to help our Citizens Elections candidates navigate the rules of the new program.  The discussion around the table as we worked ranged from recess to Presidential candidate attitudes about campaign finance reform to environmental issues of the day.  This group of new volunteers came together in response to an e-mail call to action and found new friendships and fellowship, ate some pizza, and got some great work done as well.  

It is heartening to know that even with people's busy lives, they will still come out and volunteer for a cause they believe in.

In 2004, inspired by Howard Dean's amazing campaign, I ran for State Representative in Connecticut's 149th assembly district.  I had never been involved in politics to any great extent before Governor Dean's Presidential bid, and yet when I got interested in politics, I fell hard.  Initially a complete political novice, I ended up running the house party program in Connecticut for Dean, and served on the Dean for CT steering committee.  When he ended his campaign, Governor Dean asked his supporters to run for office.  My husband looked into the races in our area, and found the State Rep seat in our district had been unopposed for almost 10 years.  So I threw my hat in the ring.

I quickly found that running for office is time intensive and exhausting - but surprisingly not that difficult, with one exception.  That exception was fundraising.  I had all sorts of help in terms of strategy and campaign advice.  There were free campaign trainings available in Connecticut, and I had a very helpful mentor in the legislature.   Volunteers from the Dean campaign in Connecticut were generous with their time and helped me out a great deal.  I had all the pieces in place - except the money.  I am naturally a pretty shy and reserved person, and it was very very difficult for me to call people and ask for their money.  Intellectually I understood that the money wasn't for me personally, but it was still very very difficult for me to make those calls.  As well, I was fairly unknown in the district except among the local grassroots community (who unfortunately were not wealthy enough to fund my campaign).  I tried my college alumni list which produced some results, and raised some money over the internet.  It was a struggle to get past about $5000.  My opponent, meanwhile, a well liked incumbent, had no trouble raising almost $40,000 in the blink of an eye.   I was extremely fortunate in that Governor Dean ended up coming to my house to host a fundraiser for me, and we ended up raising about $9000 total - enough for a couple mailings and some lawn signs.  

So now that the Citizens' Election Program is available in Connecticut, we are on the road to creating a level playing field in Connecticut politics.  Hopefully more and more candidates will run under the CEP program, following the great state of Maine where about 84% of candidates now  run "clean".  But in order to get to that point, there is work to be done. Most of you have read blog entries about Clean Elections, and probably feel familiar with the program at this point.  But there is a large proportion of the citizens at large who (shockingly!) don't hang here on the blogs or who are not part of CT politics inner circles.  As well, even people who know about the program have lots of questions and concerns.  So our task over the next six months is to SPREAD THE WORD.  

What can you do?  Help us!  First of all, know that Common Cause organizers are available to come speak about the Citizens' Election Program to whatever group invites us.  We never say no to an invitation to speak!  Do you know of any groups that would benefit from this?  Tell them to give us a call and invite us to speak.  In order for the CEP program to be really useful, people from all walks of life need to learn about it.  In order to cut down on the number of uncontested races in the state, people need to find out that the playing field has been leveled, and anyone can run.

You're busy you say?  I know - me too.  Work, kids, spouse, etc , etc .  Plus, this is a Presidential year, so everyone is out stumping for his or her  favorite - and of course that is a very good thing.

Some people have expressed concerns about where the funding comes from for Connecticut's new Citizens' Election Program.  With middle class families really feeling the pinch in this economy, it is quite reasonable for people to worry about yet another potential tax burden.  Fortunately, the smart people who crafted this law already thought of that.  The funding for the Citizens' Election program comes not out of taxpayer dollars, but from the Citizens' Election Fund, which is made solvent by the sale of property from the state's abandoned property fund.  Not only that - if you feel as strongly as I do that Clean Elections will level the playing field and play a part in stopping the influence of money in politics, you can also donate to the fund through the Connecticut Citizens' Election website .

We spend money on public education, teaching high school students about civics.  We need to make sure that money is well spent by providing new voters with good candidates to chose from.  We need to make sure the education doesn't end at the high school doors, but that everyone gets the opportunity to learn from candidates about the issues, funded by a strong Citizens' Election Program.

As someone who ran for office in the past and lost to an extremely well funded incumbent, I know first hand how difficult it is for a relatively unknown candidate to raise funds and get people to hear about the issues. There is a great pool of talented people here in Connecticut who could contribute a great deal as a legislator but who won't run because they can't conceive of dialing for the number of dollars it takes to run a successful campaign.  Now any qualified candidate who can meet the threshold of small dollar support from their district can run.  It is my hope and expectation that this will go a long way to broaden our pool of candidates in Connecticut and enable people from a wider variety of backgrounds and walks of life to represent us at the State House.

Follow the money.  Any time there is a whiff of corruption in government, someone says "follow the money and you'll find the problem."  Too often, that someone is right.  Every day we hear about major contributors gaining too much access and having to strong a role in writing policy.  The truth is that money is power right now in politics.  Candidates spend excessive amounts trying to get elected.  Men and women newly elected to Congress can't do their jobs effectively because as soon as they are elected, they have to turn right around and start raising money to get re-elected.  Just so they can start the cycle over again.

What can we do?  Well, we are incredibly lucky here in Connecticut, because a bunch of very hard working legislators and activists worked together to pass campaign finance reform and set up the Citizens' Election Program.  The legislative elections coming in November will be the first general election to take advantage of this program.  Maine and Arizona instituted similar programs several years ago, and both states have seen great success.  In Arizona, the number of small contributors to gubernatorial campaigns increased by 243% in four years.  In Maine, 84% of the legislature is now "Clean" (having used the Clean Elections program).

So what does this mean for you - the voter sitting at your computer perusing the blogs?  How are you affected?