'Clean Elections' Laws Pass Their First Tests.

• Position: Brief Article

The so-called "Clean Elections" laws in Maine and Massachusetts passed their first tests this November.

These laws provide full public financing to candidates who agree to forgo private funding and abide by spending limits.

Two other states, Arizona and Vermont, also have passed clean elections laws, and a number of other states are considering them, including Hawaii, Missouri and Oregon.

Maine's law, passed by citizen initiative in 1996, was upheld by a U.S. district court judge Nov. 5. This was the first federal court decision on a challenge to the clean elections model of campaign financing. And campaign finance reform proponents are hailing it as a major victory in a landmark case.

The judge based his ruling on the U.S. Supreme Court case Buckley vs. Valeo, in which the Court found that placing spending limits on candidates who accept public funding is not a free speech violation. He also pointed out that the system is voluntary and "provides incentives to candidates to make the public financing route attractive."

He added that "the incentives hardly are overwhelming or of an order that can be said to create profound disparities." The Maine Civil Liberties Union has already appealed the decision to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs hope for a quick decision...