Waking up to Maine’s $5 election plan

The lead editorial in Monday’s ProJo — headlined “Maine’s $5 election plan” — offered some guarded encouragement for the spirit of so-called clean elections in that northern state. The concept aims to take big money out of politics by requiring candidates to acquire a mass of small political contributions. The editorial, which attributed its interest in the public financing topic to a March 27 story in the Boston Globe, suggested: “Other states should watch the Maine experience carefully.”

The funny thing about this is that clean elections, aka fair elections, is hardly a new concept in Rhode Island. Yours truly, writing in the Phoenix, broke the story when Common Cause and some Brown students introduced the idea locally back in 2005. The ProJo itself offered coverage in short order.

And while it’s no surprise that General Assembly hasn’t rushed to embrace an upending of the status quo on campaign finance, Rhode Islanders for Fair Elections continues to push the issue.

Although proponents call fair elections a recipe for more candidates and more competitive political races — something that might aid the anemic RI Republican Party – State GOP chairman Gio Cicione has discounted the concept. He suspects Democrats would rig the system. Cicione also calls transparency the best tool for policing political contributions.

At any rate, you’d think the fourth floor at the ProJo would be more familiar with a legislative effort that’s been ongoing in Rhode Island for the last few years.