Governor Schwarzenegger swept into office in 2003 on a wave of support from reform-minded voters who were sick of politics-as-usual in Sacramento.

One of his campaign ads outlined the problem starkly: "Special interests have a stranglehold on Sacramento. Here’s how it works. The money comes in. The favors go out. The people lose."

Now, Governor Schwarzenegger has a chance to start reforming the problem he railed against five years ago – and continues to complain about today. AB 583 (Hancock) creates a program of voluntary publicly financed elections for California Secretary of State races. Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature would enact the most fundamental change to California’s broken system of public financing that has ever reached a California governor’s desk.  Click here to read our letter urging the governor’s signature.

UPDATE: He waited until the last possible day, but Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 583. Now it heads to the ballot (in 2010) for voter approval.