HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania State Sen. Daylin Leach on April 7 announced plans to introduce a bill that would create a public financing option for state political campaigns. Specifically, the legislation would create a Clean Elections Fund to provide participating candidates with public money to finance their election campaigns.

“There is a problem in our system of government when a candidate for office must either know wealthy donors or be one,” Leach said. “This system hurts us all when those who pay for ever pricier elections are perceived to be influencing the officials who represent them in office. I would like to give people the chance to run for office based on the broad public support for their ideas, not the breadth of their supporters’ wallets.”

Leach added, “Money talks in politics, and those with the most of it should not be the only voices heard. Our democracy works best when everyone can participate. At a time of the greatest inequality since the Great Depression, at a time when our Supreme Court is determined to give wildly profitable corporations the loudest voice, we need to ensure that it is not just the wealthiest one percent who get to participate.”