About Students for Clean Elections
Contact Information
Education Committee, Website and General Information
Contact: David Carhart (dcarhart@wesleyan.edu)
Media Committee
Contact: Rachael Cartwright (rcartwright@wesleyan.edu)
Networking / Outreach Committee
Contact: Anika Brink (abrink@wesleyan.edu)
Lobbying / Electoral Committee
Contact: Sasha Freudenberg (sfreudenberg@wesleyan.edu)
Who We Are
Students for Clean Elections (SCE) was formed at
Wesleyan University two years ago in an attempt to bring students into a growing
coalition to reform our nation’s political system. As far as we know, we were
the first student campaign finance reform group in the entire country.
What We Support and Why
A fundamental reform of our democracy is needed. Full public
funding addresses the problem directly by funding our public elections with
public money. This would remove the influence of money from politics and allow officials to spend their time understanding policies
rather than making sales pitches. Moreover, it would lead to the empowerment of
marginalized groups and allow new voices and ideas previously shut out of the
system to compete on equal financial footing with the monied interests. Elected officials should be
legislators not fundraisers; they should represent the people’s interests not
corporate and monied interests. Visit our resource
page for more information about full public funding.
Why People Should Care
The corrupting way in which our campaigns are financed
affects an enormous range of issues such as the environment, labor, civil
rights, feminism, the military-industrial complex, the drug war, agricultural
industrialization, corporate power, the death penalty, fair trade, America’s foreign policy and economic and social justice. Currently,
politicians must cater to those who help put them in office, so they support
policies that are not always in the best interests of the country. Even worse,
the need for money acts as a barrier to everyone who can't hand over $2,000
checks in the exercise of "free" speech.
What We've Done
Students for Clean Elections has:
 | Created and maintained a statewide coalition of student groups focused on the issue of CFR |
| Become the student voice (a full voting member) in the Democracy 2001 coalition, the group fighting for clean money reform of CT elections |
| Planned various forms of campaign finance reform education on campus, including hosting the nationally recognized speaker and former CT Secretary of State Miles Rapoport at Wesleyan -- over 60 students attended! |
| Organized and implemented a phone-a-thon in the campus center where concerned students bombarded Gov. Rowland's office and numerous state legislators with complaints about CT's campaign finance system. |
| Successfully lobbied at the CT statehouse by testifying at a committee hearing for CT's clean money legislation. In doing so, convinced a Republican state representative to vote against her party and with the Democratic majority in favor of the legislation. Also participated in Lobby Day and phone banks. |
| Sent three group members to Washington, D.C. to participate in a national conference on CFR organizing. |
| Developed personal relationships and represented Wesleyan University within several state and national CFR groups, including Public Campaign, CCAG, Democracy Matters, Common Cause, National Voting Rights Institute and Western States Center. |
| Held a statewide conference of student CFR activists with keynote speaker David Donnelly of Massachusetts voters for Clean Elections and workshops run by Nick Nyhart, Director of Public Campaign, Joan Mandle, Executive Director of Democracy Matters Adam Weinberg of Colgate University and Democracy Matters, Tom Swan, director of Connecticut Citizen Action Group and Lisa Danetz, Staff Attorney for the National Voting Rights Institute. |
| Hosted Stephanie Wilson of the Fannie Lou Hamer -- nearly 100 students attended! |
| Went to Boston to protest a fundraiser by Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran with Massachusetts Voters for Clean Elections. |
| Organized a protest against of over 80 students from across Connecticut against Governor Rowland urging him to support full public funding. |
| Mobilized 30 students to join 75 CCAG members, union workers, and outraged citizens in calling for extensive investigations into the Enron/CRRA/Rowland scandal. |
We We're Doing Now
Early in the fall we will be working on recruiting and building
the group. We will also be hosting a forum sometime in September and will be
involved in the Connecticut gubernatorial race in an attempt to oust
anti-reform Governor John Rowland. Join us in the fight for real
campaign finance reform and go to our coalition
building page.