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Consumer Watchdog

Real campaign reform is a Schwarzenegger signature away

Governor Schwarzenegger swept into office in 2003 on a wave of support from reform-minded voters who were sick of politics-as-usual in Sacramento.

One of his campaign[Related: Hold Health Insurance Indus…][Related: Hold Health Insurance Indus…] ads outlined the problem starkly: "Special interests have a stranglehold on Sacramento. Here’s how it works. The money comes in. The favors go out. The people lose."

Now, Governor Schwarzenegger has a chance to start reforming the problem he railed against five years ago – and continues to complain about today. AB 583 (Hancock) creates a program of voluntary publicly financed elections for California Secretary of State races. Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature would enact the most fundamental change to California’s broken system of public financing that has ever reached a California governor’s desk.  Click here to read our letter urging the governor’s signature.

UPDATE: He waited until the last possible day, but Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 583. Now it heads to the ballot (in 2010) for voter approval.

Carmen Balber

Consumer Watchdog executive director Carmen Balber has been with the organization for nearly two decades. She spent four years directing the group’s Washington, D.C. office where she advocated for key health insurance market reforms that were ultimately enacted into law as part of the Affordable Care Act.

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