Note: The following is a guest post by Kim Hynes, a Senior Organizer for Connecticut Common Cause.  Common Cause is promoting the new Citizens’ Election Program.

So now that the Citizens’ Election Program is available in Connecticut, we are on the road to creating a level playing field in Connecticut politics. Hopefully more and more candidates will run under the CEP program, following the great state of Maine where about 84% of candidates now run “clean”. But in order to get to that point, there is work to be done. Most of you have read blog entries about Clean Elections, and probably feel familiar with the program at this point. But there is a large proportion of the citizens at large who (shockingly!) don’t hang here on the blogs or who are not part of CT politics inner circles. As well, even people who know about the program have lots of questions and concerns. So our task over the next six months is to SPREAD THE WORD.

What can you do? Help us! First of all, know that Common Cause organizers are available to come speak about the Citizens’ Election Program to whatever group invites us. We never say no to an invitation to speak! Do you know of any groups that would benefit from this? Tell them to give us a call and invite us to speak. In order for the CEP program to be really useful, people from all walks of life need to learn about it. In order to cut down on the number of uncontested races in the state, people need to find out that the playing field has been leveled, and anyone can run.

You’re busy you say? I know – me too. Work, kids, spouse, etc , etc . Plus, this is a Presidential year, so everyone is out stumping for his or her favorite – and of course that is a very good thing.

HOWEVER!

Think about what is at stake here. We can change the face of politics if we work hard enough so that every state candidate in Connecticut is a clean candidate. What if every single state legislator was elected without feeling beholden to lobbyists or feeling trapped by the money game? What if every single one of those legislators had time to really listen to their constituents? What changes could we make? What if the single mom trying to raise her two kids safely on less than $35,000 a year had a say in politics? What if she ran for office? What if the bright young Latino councilman from Bridgeport could run for the legislature and win? What if areas of entrenched party rule actually became competitive? What if politics in Connecticut became something that EVERYONE could have a real say in? We could change Connecticut from Corrupticut, to an amazing place – run by the people and for the people.

Common Cause is a terrific organization and has helped Connecticut take the first step toward independence from special interests and corruption. Help us go all the way. Invite a Common Cause speaker to your next event to talk about the Citizens’ Election Program. Join Common Cause and give a little bit to help us out a lot. SPREAD THE WORD. After all – you have the power!