Town Hall Meeting on Clean Elections

A Town Hall Meeting on Clean Elections will be held at Marshall University tomorrow, Saturday, March 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon. Refreshments will be served and a discussion of the Health Care for All campaign will follow. The meeting will be held in the Multi-Purpose Facility located in the basement of the Marshall Student Center. It is being sponsored by the Southwest District Labor Council and West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections.

Are you tired of elections paid for by the fat cats, and are you appalled that the 2008 West Virginia legislative elections rang up over $4 million in campaign spending? Are you amazed that some candidates for the West Virginia Legislature spend many times their annual legislative salary to get elected? Are you angry that lobbyists often have more input into what ends up in a bill than the citizens the law affects? There is another way. Public financing makes for Clean Elections.

Attendees will learn how public financing makes for Clean Elections. The West Virginia Public Campaign Financing Act would offer legislative candidates the choice of running for office beholden to no one but the voters. Legislators could hold office without having to spend their time raising money. Qualified candidates without personal wealth or connections to money would be able to run for office – more choices for voters. The option of public financing is already available to candidates in Maine, Arizona, and other states.