Garden City AAUW Celebrates "Clean Elections" Resolution

Past and Present Presidents of Garden City AAUW and Public Policy Chairperson meet Assemblyman McKevitt (left to right) Georgene Harrison (Co President), Margaret Delahunt, Rose Ann Palmer (Public Policy Chairperson) Assemblyman McKevitt, Mary Knox, Jane Cox (standing) and Sylvia Ebert (Co-President)

Garden City members of the American Association of University

Women (AAUW) are in a celebratory mood over passage of a "Clean Elections" resolution at the organization's annual state convention. (See end of article to read the resolution} The branch Public Policy Study Group chose "Clean Elections" for its annual project, then arranged to have a Resolution: Clean Money: Clean Elections presented by its author, Ms. Irene Miller, AAUW member and member of the Board of Trustees of "Citizens' Action New York" at the New York State AAUW convention at Cooperstown in April. The resolution passed by an overwhelming majority vote and will be presented to the New York State Legislature.

The reason for celebrating is that "Clean Elections" could save taxpayers lots of money, allow candidates to run for state offices without begging for dollars, and restore the principle of one person, one vote. How? By providing full and equal public funding to all qualified candidates who refuse private money so that they can feel free to work in the public's interest rather than in that of contributors to their next campaign.

One of the first acts of celebration was to bring the good news to Assemblyman Tom McKevitt (R-East Meadow) that the AAUW would be working to free him and other New York State legislators from the burden of raising campaign funds. Current and past AAUW presidents and the Public Policy chair explained to him that Clean Elections would cost each New Yorker about $1.50 per year. In return, the billions that now go to tax breaks and subsidies to big corporations would be available for healthcare, education, the environment, and infrastructure such as roads and bridges with lots left over to reduce our tax burden.

The AAUW members noted that tax breaks and subsidies far outweighed the amounts contributed. For example, (according to Citizen's Action) for campaign contributions of $930,000 to members of the legislature in Albany, the insurance industry won New York State tax breaks of $231 million. For $1.9 million in contributions the banking and securities industry won tax breaks worth well over $100 million, along with freedom from most state regulations, including regulations on questionable loan practices. Amounts like these would have been a great help in reducing the budget deficit.

Fortunately, we live in America and can do something about this. Governor Paterson introduced the "Clean Elections" bill in the senate before becoming Governor and is a strong supporter, as are quite a few other legislators. But not all legislators are on board. We need a groundswell of bi-partisan demand to let them know we want an end to the tax breaks and political favoritism that accompanies campaign contributions.

But because most media owners, who make billions on campaign ads, avoid covering "Clean Elections", "we the people" must mount a massive grassroots effort to inform others and demand our legislators listen. That means getting your organizations involved, hosting speakers, tabling at fairs, writing letters to editors, calling legislators, etc. Whatever your talents, they are needed. To get started call (518) (678-3516)(Kingston, N.Y. number.)

. You can also check the website for "Citizen Action of New York", a statewide grassroots organization devoted to passing "Clean Elections", at www.citizenactionny.org.

Luckily, we have a head start. Numerous polls show New Yorkers in the know about "Clean Elections" overwhelmingly favor passing it. Moreover, we are not alone. Maine, Arizona, and Connecticut have "Clean Elections" for all state legislative offices, four other states use it for lesser offices, and there are federal "Clean Elections" bills in the U.S. Congress. The house bill is called "Clean Elections" and the senate bill is called "Fair Elections."

New York State AAUW Resolution Supporting Clean Money Clean Elections

WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections creates a system of public financing for candidates who agree to strict spending limits in their campaigns for statewide and legislative offices and is supported by Governor David Paterson and WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would enhance democracy by eliminating the deleterious influence of money in the political process, removing access to wealth as a major determinant of a citizen's influence in the political process, and restoring the principle of "one person, one vote", and WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would level the playing field to give qualified citizens without access to big money a fair chance at winning office based on their ideas, ability, and integrity rather than how much money they can raise, and WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would stop the endless money chase so that candidates are free of the constant need to raise money and those elected have more time to serve the public interest rather than constantly raising funds for their next campaign, and WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would reduce the escalating costs of elections, and WHEREAS: Polls show an overwhelming majority of citizens support public financing of campaigns so long as the candidates abide by spending limits and WHEREAS: Partial reforms such as "matching funds" public financing systems will not meet the goals of greatly reducing the influence of large, private donors or allow citizens of modest means the ability to run competitively for public office and WHEREAS: Clean Elections would enhance AAUW's ability to achieve our goals of equity for women and girls and increase the number of women able to run for elective office, therefore let it be RESOLVED: That the American Association of University Women of New York State (AAUW NYS) urge the New York State Legislature to enact a Clean Elections system of full public financing into law in order to break the hold money interests have over the principle of one person, one vote and FURTHER RESOLVED: that the AAUW NYS President and Public Policy Director send copies of this resolution to Governor David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, and assembly members and senators.