In a closely contested race in Connecticut, incumbent Rep. Chris Shays (R) and challenger Jim Himes (D) agreed yesterday that changing the way we pay for our elections is critical:Perhaps it has something to do with the dramatic initial success of the Connecticut Citizens Elections public financing program, which began this year.  In addition, last week, we sent a letter to every congressional candidate and asked them to sign the Voters First Pledge.Himes and Shays need to make it official that they're on board -- you can see the signers here -- but it's great that this important reform issue entered their debate in its final weeks.

Bruce Lunsford, Democratic Senate candidate from Kentucky, wrote himself a $1 million check the day after the Supreme Court struck down the so-called Millionaire's Amendment of BCRA.

That's the way the system works -- kinda rotten for average non-wealthy folks, which is most of us, but that's the way it is.  For now.

Lunsford should make clear that he's not about keeping it that way, with the Senate resembling an elite country club, and he should sign the Voters First Pledge in support of public financing for Congress.  A tip of the cap to our friends at Campaign Money Watch for sending Lunsford a letter telling him to do so.

Last week Common Cause, in conjuction with Public Campaign and Public Citizen, launched the Voters First Pledge website. The website lists both incumbents and candidates who have pledged to put voters first. The pledge calls for making elections fair, restoring accountability, and protecting voters' right-to-know. Many of the reforms the Pledge calls for are identical to the campaign promises of Michael Steele, the Republican candidate for the Maryland Senate. The strange thing is Michael Steele has not signed the Pledge.

In Maryland and surrounding areas, including Washington D.C., airwaves are filled with Steele advertisements that promise a "different kind of Senator." In his 'Real Differences' ad, Steele claims "I want to ban gifts from special interests." Despite such strong conviction, Steele has yet to sign on to the Pledge which has a major clause to "pass and enforce meaningful new restrictions on gifts and travel from lobbyists and other powerful interests for members of Congress." For a candidate who wants to change Washington, Steele doesn't appear to be taking much initiative.

According to a 28 September 2006 article from U.S. Newswire, not only has Steele not signed the Pledge, but his campaign office has yet to respond to any of the attempts, since June, by national reform organizations to discuss the Voters First Pledge. This has prompted some to ask why Steele won't "put his money where his mouth is?" David Donnelly, the Public Campaign Action Fund's national campaign director, had this to say,

"Your current television advertising prominently features the need to clean up Washington, and claims you will be a 'different kind' of Republican Senator. That is why we are baffled by your on-going refusal to respond to our requests that you sign the Voters First Pledge to make elections fair, enhance accountability, and protect voters' right-to-know."

 Read more about the pledge by visiting http://www.votersfirstpledge.org/about and then compare these objectives with the campaign promises of Michael Steele. Please let us know if you see a major difference or an explanation for Steele's hesitation.

Along with our reform allies US PIRG, Public Campaign, Public Citizen, and others, we're calling on every federal candidate this fall to do more than just say they plan to clean up Congress. We want them to pledge support for specific reforms. That's why, earlier this summer, we sent a copy of the Voters First Pledge to every federal candidate.

Since then, we've had our army of interns follow up with every candidate - both incumbents and challengers - to explain the principles and encourage them to sign on. We've had a large number sign on already, and now we're about to kick the campaign into high gear.

With Congress home for August recess, we're talking to constituents, the media, local leaders and others about the pledge and Congressional Clean Elections. We want to make sure that real reform becomes part of the discussion this election season, and that Congress starts up again after the elections with real reform on the agenda.

Can you help us pull this off? Making a contribution today will help us pay for the staff we need to reach out to citizens and journalists so that this campaign will have a real impact.

Today is the Democratic primary in Connecticut.  Ned Lamont is challenging incumbent Joe Lieberman for their party's nomination.  Plenty of newsprint and blog time has been spent analyzing the merits of each man's case. Common Cause would like to highlight the fact that both men have taken the Voters First Pledge.

In fact, all four candidates for Senate in Connecticut have taken the pledge.  We hope they take it seriously.  Ask your representatives and the candidates you meet in the street and at public events what they think of it.  If they don't like the idea of putting you first, you might not want to put them first.  We think public financing of elections is vital for the integrity of our political institutions and the people who fill them.  You can make sure the connection between politics and special interests through campaign contributions and kickbacks is broken.  This election is the first step.

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Here's a campaign tip that seems pretty common sense to me:  if you're running for Governor by painting yourself as the "reform candidate" to counter alleged incumbent corruption, don't be the only candidate to decline to answer an ethics survey.

Valid point.  However, a little less valid when said candidate has made ethics and reform the cornerstone issue of his campaign.  And yes, that's the Voters First Pledge that Common Cause is working so hard on this summer, so we're taking it a little personally.  But I'll let the well-spoken Jay Heck of Common Cause Wisconsin explain why Green's excuses don't wash with us: