It’s time for another People’s Pledge

As regular readers of RI Future know Common Cause Rhode Island pushed for a People’s Pledge in the race for governor last year. Despite some skeptics the three leading Democrats agreed to the Pledge in April. Up until the final days the Pledge held and we saw not a single TV or radio ad run by an outside group in the primary. The one violation was quickly dealt with and represented only 1/10,000th of the total spending in the race.

Today we wrote letters to the party nominees and asked them to negotiate another Pledge. While we didn’t literally offer our table again, we stand ready to facilitate a negotiation between the candidates. Last time we called for a Pledge we were armed with evidence from the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senate race. Common Cause research showed that the Pledge reduced the amount of negativity, the amount of undisclosed money, and increased the percentage of small dollar donors. Now we have evidence from Rhode Island that the Pledge keeps outside money out of the race. And there is a great survey by Lake Survey Partners showing bi-partisan support for the People’s Pledge.

Let’s hear from the candidates between now and November 4th and insist on a People’s Pledge!