Harken back to the Philadelphia Clean Elections pledge when we teamed up with individuals and organizations who wanted to put candidates in the city on record in support of a full public financing option for campaigns. It would seem the idea has reached the statehouse, where State Rep. Greg Vitali is proposing a public financing option for gubernatorial candidates as a way to "ensure the integrity of the system" and encourage a voluntary system to limit campaign spending.

Public Campaign Action Fund's David Donnelly has a letter to the editor in today's Philadelphia Inquirer praising the new campaign donation limits passed by the city, but urging a move towards Clean Elections public financing as outlined in the Philadelphia Fair and Clean Elections pledge signed by Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates and several city council candidates.

Results are in from Philadelphia's Democratic primary yesterday, and it looks like 11 of the 17 likely City Council winners, and the likely mayoral winner are all signers of the Philadelphia Fair and Clean Elections pledge.  Cleaning up City Hall has been a centerpiece of campaign debate in the city, and with the pledge candidates are now on record to get something done!

Philadelphia mayoral candidate Tom Knox needs to fundraise like Oprah needs to get a paper route: he's a multi-millionaire who's more than capable of self-funding his race. But, he's still raising money so the Philadelphia Inquirer looks at who's giving: apparently much of his support is coming from out of state, and from Philly's wealthy suburbs.

More coverage from yesterday's event announcing the signers of the Philadelphia Fair and Clean Elections pledge. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer notes mayoral candidate Tom Knox's failure to sign, though his major opponent in the Democratic primary, Michael Nutter, has signed. We've got more on the pledge (29 signers so far!), and pictures from the event here.

In a huge outpouring of support for Clean Elections-style full public financing of elections in Philadelphia, four mayoral candidates and 25 city council candidates have signed a pledge, endorsed by five groups including Public Campaign Action Fund, to create a comprehensive public financing system for city elections.