Caucus Resolution on Voter-Owned Elections
from Common Cause Iowa here’s just what you need for Thursday night—
Resolution to support passage of the Fair Elections Now Act (US Senate File 1285) and Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (Iowa House File 805 & Senate File 553)
WHEREAS, our political system at all levels is increasingly dominated by the influence of large sums of private money that finance electoral campaigns, diminishing the right of all Iowans to equal and meaningful participation in the democratic process, and
WHEREAS, a number of states – including Arizona, Maine and Connecticut – have adopted systems of clean elections which provide full public financing for primary and general campaigns to candidates who opt to run “clean campaigns,” and
WHEREAS, such voluntary voter owned election laws have helped to restore democracy and public confidence in the election and governing processes of those states; and
WHEREAS, the State Government Committee of the Iowa House and Senate, have approved HF805 and SF 553 – the Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (VOICE) on a bi-partisan basis, and US Senate File 1285, the Fair Elections Now Act, has been proposed in the US Senate;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the (Iowa Democratic Party or Republican Party of Iowa) supports the Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (VOICE) and Fair Elections Now Act, to establish an election system in which candidates could choose to forego fundraising from private sources, accept spending limits and receive a set amount of money from a publicly financed election fund.
December 30th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
ICCI has its own resolution on the topic–
Resolution to support passage of the Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (House File 805 & Senate File 553)
WHEREAS, a fundamental tenet of democracy is government “of, by and for the people”; and
WHEREAS, our political system at all levels is increasingly dominated by the influence of large sums of private money that finance electoral campaigns, and
WHEREAS, this influence diminishes the right of all Iowans to equal and meaningful participation in the democratic process, and
WHEREAS, a number of states – including Arizona, Maine and Connecticut – have adopted systems of clean elections which provide full public financing for primary and general campaigns to candidates who opt to run “clean campaigns,” and
WHEREAS, such voluntary voter owned election laws have helped to restore democracy and public confidence in the election and governing processes of those states; and
WHEREAS, the State Government Committee of the Iowa House and Senate, have approved HF805 and SF 553 – the Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (VOICE) on a bi-partisan basis;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Iowa pass Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections (VOICE) legislation, as spelled out in HF 805 and SF 553. Under this law an election system will be established in which candidates could choose to no longer raise money from private sources. Instead, each participating candidate would receive a set amount of money from a publicly financed election fund. Spending by the candidate would be limited to the amount they get from the election fund.