Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson have qualified for public financing from New Jersey's Clean Elections program.

The Bergen Record reports:

The idea behind Clean Elections is to dislodge the big-money donors that give generously come campaign season, and later are awarded with no-bid government contracts, a practice known as pay-to-play. Good-government advocates say that pay-to-play costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year...Candidates who voluntarily agree to run under the Clean Elections banner must collect $10 donations from up to 800 registered voters, then swear off private funding and any kind of assistance from their county committees. They then are eligible for up to $526,375 each in state money to run their campaigns.

Weinberg, Johnson and Huttle all qualified by raising over 400 campaign contributions of $10 from District 37 voters. So far, the Clean Elections program has given $53,590 to Vainieri Huttle; $52,900 to Johnson; and $55,660 to Weinberg. However, in order to qualify for the maximum public financing, each candidate must collect a total of 800 contributions of $10.

Meanwhile, District 37's Republican candidates Wojciech J. Siemaszkiewicz, Clara S. Nibot and Frank J. Cifarelli have yet to qualify for the funding. The deadline for contributions is September 30.

The Englewood Report has written about the pay-to-play corruption that has hurt our local politics and has allowed insiders to worsen our quality of life.  With the new Clean Election Program, we now have the opportunity to challenge this pay-to-play system. What is the Clean Elections Program? According to its website:

This project is a milestone in the political history of this State and seeks to halt the erosion of public confidence in the political process by instituting a voluntary‚ publicly funded campaign finance system for legislative office and is designed to remove access to large contributions‚ which is a major impediment to a citizen’s influence within the political process.

And how does it work?

A Fair and Clean Candidate in the 2007 general election must raise between 400 and 800 contributions of $10 each from registered voters within the district. Any candidate who meets this requirement and who refuses to accept contributions from other sources is eligible to receive public financing under the Clean Elections Act.

So for only $10 per candidate, we can be part of this new program to rid our political system of pay-to-play money. This is a small price to pay for a huge investment in our political system. We encourage our readers to get involved in this pilot program.

Last week, Tenafly Councilwoman Carol Hoernlein wrote about the District 37 legislators' participation in the Clean Elections Program on BlueJersey.com. This is what she had to say:

The District 37 team of Weinberg, Huttle, and Johnson needs your help in participating in the Clean Elections program.  They need to each get one check for $10 - a total of $30 - from 800 registered voters in District 37 to participate. The towns in District 37 are: Bergenfield, Bogota, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Hackensack, Leonia, Maywood, Palisades Park, Ridgefield Park, Rochelle Park, Teaneck and Tenafly. 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
I was mailed the forms but you can download them here.

At the top of each form  (you'll need one for each candidate) write in:
• Clean Election Fund of Loretta Weinberg for Senate

• Clean Election Fund of Gordon M. Johnson for Assembly

• Clean Election Fund of Valerie Vaineiri Huttle for Assembly

Fill out and sign all 3 forms.

Make out 3 separate checks to:
• Clean Election Fund of Loretta Weinberg

• Clean Election Fund of Gordon M. Johnson

• Clean Election Fund of Valerie Huttle

Mail all 3 forms and 3 checks (snailmail) to:
• P.O. Box 3392, Teaneck, NJ 07666
• Use 2 Stamps!

The GOOD NEWS:  
You only need to send in $10 for each candidate.
You don't have to be a registered Democrat to participate.

The BAD NEWS: 
You can only send in $10 per candidate.
You must be a Registered Voter in District 37.


DEADLINES:
• August 10th:  The first 400 contributions to each candidate in by this deadline allows the candidates to have the name "Clean Elections Candidate" printed on the ballot alongside of each candidate's name with an accompanying 250 word candidate statement - it's like free advertising right in the voting booth.  That first 400 donors for each candidate, also gets each candidate the first $50,000 installment of Clean Elections campaign grant money.
• September 30: A total of 800 separate $10 donations to each candidate must be in and completed in order to fully qualify for the entire $100,000 in campaign grant money for each candidate. 
 
So, lets all help out Weinberg, Huttle and Johnson - lets make Clean Elections work.  We can do this.