Friends of democracy ~ Last week was filled with stunning victories for democracy in general, and for public campaign financing specifically. Read on to find out more and how we can really use your assistance at this crucial moment -- there's a lot happening!* **Did you know that President-Elect Obama is a co-sponsor of the Fair Elections Now Act, which would provide the option of full public financing for all congressional candidates?* Not only that, but he has also signed a pledge to make passage of this bill a priority in his administration! Even more exciting, is that his mentor in the Senate, Richard Durbin, is the Democratic sponsor of the bill, which means we may have some real wind in our sails. Now it's our job to make sure it really happens. As our allies at Common Cause are working in D.C to connect with Obama's transition team, *we have been tasked with helping get Speaker Pelosi excited about this bill*. Our grassroots efforts will help motivate the Speaker to make this a priority, along with people pushing from the D.C. side of things. *1. Who do you know that can influence Speaker Pelosi? *Can you set up a presentation at a local organization sometime over the next 4-8 weeks (any local organization)? I will be there. Are there specific groups or individuals that you think Pelosi would listen to? Let me know your thoughts! *2. Can you send an email to Speaker Pelosi right now using our easy online tool?* http://www.commoncause.org/CA/Speaker-FairElections /Some of you may remember that we were working to get Dianne Feinstein's support a few months ago. This has been tabled, as Feinstein seems to be moving off of the committee that will hear this issue. / * On the local level, we now have a majority of the members of Board of Supervisors who were elected using public financing, for the first time ever!* Even better, 5 of the members who were elected have signed our pledge to not raid the fund, and to support expansion to full public financing. Those Supervisors are: Eric Mar*, David Chiu, Ross Mirkarimi, David Campos and John Avalos. Along with our allies who were not facing re-election, we have a solid 6-vote majority! We are discussing plans for a ballot initiative to protect and expand the local program and we will keep you appraised of where that is shortly. In the mean time, we have to save the country! : ) *Final election results pending. Rob Arnow -- San Franciscans for Voter Owned Elections www.voterownedelections.org 415-552-2229