Public Campaign Funding Effort

Dear WashClean friends,

You know the story:  Many hands make light work.  That's our fund raising plan. 

Our work is extremely important.  It can make a difference in your lifetime.  

In short, we want to change how democracy works - so that your voice is as influential as the corporate special interests.  Will you help?  

We are organizing for public funding of campaigns, so that Main Street - rather than Wall Street - "owns" the Congress and has majority influence over lawmaking and public policy. 

It's a serious fight.  Even the nation's top court seems ready to allow direct corporate contributions to campaigns !  It's another reason why public funding of campaigns is necessary.

Our success will take time and may come in small increments.  But if we don't take on this fight, lawmaking and public policy will become dictated even more by Wall Street profiteering, by the "revolving door" where lobbyists go back and forth, working for members of Congress and then for corporate clients.  It is all greased by campaign cash - and as you know, the financiers call the tune.  Consider what's happening to health care reform under the current "pay-to-play" system. 

We need a Congress - and public servants at state and local levels - who are not for sale, who are not beholden to any special interest.  The tough decisions that are needed - on health care and jobs, closing tax loopholes, setting budget priorities, enacting tough regulations for a sustainable environment and for a financial services industry that doesn't rip us off - these decisions should be made without the influence of campaign and lobbying cash.  

But -- the political movement for this fight needs savvy organizing and citizen action.  And that takes money - for organizing staff to coordinate the volunteers, to do the research, to maintain the website, to deploy a robust speakers bureau, and to provide needed information to citizen lobbyists.  

If you want WashClean to continue this work, we must have your financial support. 

 We need to raise $20,000.  With many moderate contributions, we can do it.  Will you help?
(Those of you contributing already - thank you!  You know who you are.) 

Since August, we've operated without staff at all - only volunteers - due to shortage of funds.  But now, we're gearing up for 2010.  Our "agenda" includes:

• progress on a judicial bill in the coming legislative session
  
  
• laws to limit the size of campaign contributions in several cities
  (as a forerunner to public funding of campaigns for local office as soon as practical)
  
  
• citizen lobbying to get our members of Congress to co-sponsor the Fair Elections Now Act
  
  

We have interviewed some talented and experienced young people to join our staff as organizers.  But we have insufficient funds to pay them, to keep our doors open, and to grow our movement so that soon, we can launch a statewide citizen initiative for Clean/Fair Elections.  

Please make a membership contribution!  

You can contribute online, on our website, using a debit or credit card. (processed by PayPal, but you don't need to establish a PayPal account). 

Please consider a monthly sustaining contribution - whatever is affordable to you, $10, $25, or any amount. If your situation changes, you can cancel at any time. 

Or, send a contribution to:
  Washington Public Campaigns
  PO Box 70452, Seattle WA 98127-0452

For a tax-deductible contribution, write your check to:  WPC Education Fund.

Thank you!  
~ Craig Salins
Washington Public Campaigns 
www.washclean.org 
wpc@washclean.org 
206-784-2522

look at all of the bills that have already been prefiled for the new session

Click here! Look at all of the bills already!

Regarding questions about whether Lynda Ring-Erickson plans to run for state senate

Lately, I've been hearing speculation about whether or not Lynda Ring-Erickson, who is currently one of the three Mason County Commissioners, is considering a run for the 35th LD Senate position.

In response to my inquiry about this question, I was informed that she does not plan to run for the senate position. According to her campaign treasurer for the last two commissioner campaigns, "A main logical argument is financial - winning the senate seat would negatively impact her state retirement pension. She already took a significant paycut to go from City of Olympia Public Works to Mason County Commissioner in 2004. The salary disparity between full time county commissioner and part time legislator is even worse."

I hope this clears up any uncertainty regarding this issue.

Brian Baird Announces He Will Not Run for Re-Election

Representative Brian Baird has announced today he will not seek re-election in 2010.

"The time has now come to pursue other options, other ways of serving," Baird said in a statement. "This is not an easy decision to be sure, but I believe it is the right decision at the right time."

Baird is the tenth Congressional Democrat, and the third in just a few weeks, to announce a decision not to seek another term.

Publicola is reporting that State Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz was caught off guard by the news, while he was traveling in Florida. "I'm very surprised," Publicola has reported that Pelz said. "I don't agree with everything he's done, but he's a very intelligent and hard working member of Congress, and he would have been easily reelected."

Brian Baird has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1999, representing Washington's 3rd congressional district.

UPDATE: It didn't take long for Republican state Representative Jaime Herrera, of the 18th LD, to announce that she'd run to replace Baird. On the Democrats' side, according to one blog, "the names being bandied about include state Senator Craig Pridemore of Vancouver, Rep. Deb Wallace of Vancouver, Rep. Brendan Williams of Olympia, and Cowlitz County Commissioner Axel Swanson."