CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections is organizing meetings across the state in an effort to win support from legislators for the West Virginia Public Financing Act.

The group also is sponsoring a video contest about the proposed legislation.

When they convene next month, state legislators will consider the West Virginia Public Campaign Financing Act.

In 2008, candidates for 35 seats in the Senate and 100 seats in the House spent more than $4 million on their election campaigns.

The proposed legislation would give candidates public financing if they choose not to accept private donations and agree to follow campaign-spending limits.

Julie Archer, project manager for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, said seven states, including Maine, Connecticut and Arizona, already have similar laws.

Today, 84 percent of Maine legislators and nine out of 11 statewide elected officials in Arizona, including Gov. Janet Napolitano, were elected under Clean Election laws.

Archer said, "West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections supports and promotes public financing of legislative races in West Virginia as a way to free candidates from fundraising and allow them to spend more time talking with voters about the issues that concern them."

Citizens for Clean Elections, a coalition of faith-based, environmental, union and public interest, held its first public meeting in Charleston on Jan. 6.

The League of Women Voters of Wood County, a nonpartisan political group, is sponsoring the group's second meeting in Parkersburg on Jan. 26.

Public officials attending the Charleston meeting, co-sponsored by the Temple Israel Social Action Committee, included: Secretary of State-elect Natalie Tennant; Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha; and Delegates Carrie Webster, Nancy Guthrie, Bobbie Hatfield, Danny Wells and Doug Skaff, all D-Kanawha.

Foster said recently, "Nobody likes to raise money. We like to talk to people and discuss issues - and that's not as big a factor as it should be."

Carol Warren, coordinator of the Clean Elections coalition, said, "Pressures on candidates to raise large sums of money fuel the perception that elected officials are corrupt and less accountable to the voters than campaign contributors."

Warren believes that many well-qualified individuals never run for office because they "lack personal wealth or connections."

Average citizens should be able to become viable political candidates, Warren added, "without relying on the financing backing of special interests and lobbyists."

To qualify for public funding, a candidate such as Foster, who is in a district where he runs for one of two open Senate seats, initially would have to raise $5 contributions from 500 contributors.

Foster would then receive $35,000 in public financing for the primary election. If he wins, he would receive another $35,000 for the general election. If his opponent outspends him, Foster could receive another $35,000, for a maximum of $105,000.

In a Senate district that has only one open seat during each election cycle, candidates initially would receive $20,000 for the primary and up to $60,000 for the whole election cycle.

Citizens for Clean Elections also is sponsoring a video contest about voter-financed elections and why reforms are needed. Prizes of $200, $150 and $100 will be awarded for the three best videos.

The video contest, Archer said, focuses on high school and college students interested in state politics. However, anyone may enter.

The deadline to submit videos, which should be two minutes or less, is Feb. 29. Winners will be announced on March 6. A compilation of the videos will then be sent to state legislators.

Anyone interested in entering the contest can get entry forms and more information from the group's Web site at www.wvoter-owned.org.

The Jan. 26 meeting in downtown Parkersburg will begin at 7 pm in the Judge Black Courthouse Annex, across the street from the Blennerhassett Hotel.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com">pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.