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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Sweeping Big Bucks Out of State Politics

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007   

Charleston, WV – An effort to get 'big money' out of state politics kicks off today, with renewed support for election reform from a coalition of West Virginia groups. Carol Warren, with Citizens for Clean Elections, says political campaigns get more and more expensive with each election, but only one percent of West Virginians donate to candidates. Instead, she explains, the big money is coming in from a small number of major donors.

"Citizens realize that money is being put in by special interests who expect to get something back for the contribution. They aren't just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts."

Warren says the state is facing some major challenges in economic development and environmental protection, and the current system is locking everyday West Virginians out of those decisions.

"It's really important, here in West Virginia in particular, that people be able to have a voice in the direction that the state is taking."

Warren believes the state can clean up the system by offering public financing to candidates who agree to limit the amount of money they raise and spend. She points to the "West Virginia Clean Elections Act" as a good way to do that, although the proposal law has failed to pass in the legislature in recent sessions. The coalition hopes to revive it, and also to advocate for federal campaign reform.


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