PFAW Statement in Support of the Legislators Fighting to Protect Clean Elections

This week the Connecticut state legislature proposed a budget that would suspend the state’s clean election law, widely viewed as a model for public financing. In 2014, 74 percent of candidates participated in the state’s clean elections program.

A cohort of young Democratic legislators in Connecticut, several of whom are members of affiliate People For the American Way Foundation’s Young Elected Officials Network, are pushing back against the proposal. In a letter, the legislators said the proposal would cause “irreparable damage” to Connecticut’s election process, which in the past has allowed “regular people (and especially young people) to compete based on policy positions and ideas, not who has access to the biggest donors.”

People For the American Way president Michael Keegan released the following statement:

“We stand with the legislators pushing back against the proposed attack on Connecticut’s model clean elections law. The law has helped people without access to big money from wealthy special interests to run for office and become elected leaders in the state.

“Across the board, Americans are calling for solutions to the big money takeover of our democracy, but this proposal does just the opposite. We support the efforts of the young elected officials fighting to protect clean elections in Connecticut.”

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