Campaign excesses

Campaign excesses - The Boston Globe: "Pamela Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, predicts that when it is all over next fall, the candidates in the general election will each have spent as much as $12 million in an effort to become the governor of Massachusetts."

It did not have to be this way. In 1996, voters overwhelmingly endorsed a Clean Elections Law that would have provided adequate public funds to allow qualified candidates to stand for elective office.

``What's sad is that it was never given a chance to work here," said Warren Tolman, who ran a Clean Elections campaign for governor in 2002, hobbled by delays in providing him funds. ``What I learned in '02 is that while people recognize the need to get money out of politics, it is no one's number one issue."