Rasmussen is reporting that trust in both Republican and Democratic parties is at its lowest level since June. The recent scandal surrounding Illinois governor Blagojevich has forced voters to re-evaluate their trust of Democrats. In addition, 30% of voters in November were undecided as to which party could be more trusted, now almost 40% feel that way.

The hidden stat that I don't think many saw or gave much of a thought to was this: nearly 60% of voters said Obama should make government ethics reform a top agenda item when he assumes office in January. An overwhelming majority of the country wants to change this system. More importantly they want to trust this system again. They want to believe that the decisions being made around healthcare, global warming, our tax dollars and corporate bailouts are not being made based around the money. These are public policy decisions. Decisions that affect everyone in this country.

Securing a simple public funding program for all Congressional elections would drastically change the way this system works. It would pull corporate money out of the system, force lobbyists to trade only information (not checks , limit the impact of "bundlers" and stop politicians from using earmarks as bribes for future campaign donations.

This is a first-step in taking on this corruption. Its one we all can make. Cast your vote now and stand up for citizen-funded elections and remove the power of the special interests and lobbyists in Washington.

Naomi Klein, activist and author of No Logo, has a great series of 1 minute videos on BigThink.com. In one she addresses the corrupting influence of corporate money in politics:

"I think there needs to be a citizen’s revolt against the corporate takeover of politics... Americans are in an endless election campaign. It never ends. So the idea that after the election then there will be policy, there is no after the election. There is always another election, another fundraising campaign, and you know it never ends."

Klein also highlights the critical importance of campaign finance reform: "Before this can actually lead to political change, we need to change the rules. We need to get corporate money the hell away from politics; or at least a huge separation. It has to . . . It’s the most pressing issue of our time. It’s the most pressing issue of our time because it’s what needs to happen before anything else can happen."

We're advocating the same thing.

Money is not the only problem but it's the problem that must be fixed first. The time is ripe and with your help we will create the change that we need.

Obviously, there is a growing movement within Illinois to address ethics in state government after the Blagojevich scandal, since he was the fourth of recent eight Illinois governors caught up in a corruption-related charge (the other three being George Ryan, currently serving out a 6-year sentence for a federal corruption conviction, Daniel Walker, later convicted in the savings & loan fraud, and Otto Kerner Jr. who died after serving three years in prison for taking bribes).

The folks over at Deep Blue Illinois have proposed a rather simple next action for incoming governor Pat Quinn.

Setting aside resolution of the now infamous vacant U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President-elect Barack Obama, the first thing the new Governor should do is immediately invite Cindy Canary’s Crew, a.k.a. the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, the Better Government Association, the Civic Federation, the League of Women Voters of Illinois and every other good government group to join with lawmakers from both parties at a “Governor’s Summit on Ethics Reform” to lay out a punch list of reform measures that ought to be part of a larger strategy of reclaiming Illinois government.

There is a sample agenda with several key government reform ideas posted as well. I can think of a couple things to add to that list and if you think of some of your own feel free to post them.

1. Supporting public funding of all state-wide public elections in Illinois.
2. Immediate release of state spending "as-it-happens." This is a public checkbook, everyone should be able to see where the money goes just like with any other bank account.
3. State-wide database and website revealing lobbying firms, their employees and connections individuals in government.

Any other ideas? I hope Deep Blue Illinois is able to build some support for this type of meeting. We're willing to help!

Lessig posted an idea to the Change.org 's Ideas for Change project and its one that we hope you will support. We also hope you will submit your own ideas and share them with our community back here. Lessig's idea focuses on supporting a realistic way in which citizens (you and me) will fund our nation's elections, not special interests and Washington lobbyists.

Please support this idea by voting for it . Also, please submit your own ideas and share them with us by posting a link back here.

The fine folks over at Public Campaign have put together a great summary of the progress being made in pushing publicly funded elections at the state and local level. Often called Voter Owned Elections, clean elections are one way to take big money out of the campaign process. The report shows public support of clean elections for local and state races. This is helping to build a bottom-up movement dedicated to changing the way big money impacts not just local elections but eventually federal as well.

Voters given the choice chose Clean Elections candidates, demonstrating strong support at the local level for the system. That's vital because Clean Elections candidates typically meet voters one on one to discuss the issues. They must get a set number of modest donations-usually five dollars-from people in their community in order to qualify for a grant to pay for their campaign. Once qualified, the Clean Elections candidate adheres to strict spending limits and stops accepting private contributions. That means the donation from the teacher is as important as the one from the corporate CEO.

Not too shabby. Checkout their full results page for more info.