The National Latino Congreso is meeting in Los Angeles for the first comprehensive gathering of Latino leaders, organizations and elected officials since 1977:

We therefore believe it is time to initiate a thoroughgoing debate on tactics and strategies for more effectively using Latino electoral influence and governance/policy assets to better achieve greater change and justice for our communities, nation, hemisphere and world.

At the Latino Congreso information will be delivered, issues will be discussed, strategies will be proposed, and decisions will be made by delegates and observers representing the breadth of the community. Our hope is that a new agenda for today and the next generation will be born.

Today, that new agenda was reflected in a unanimous vote calling for public financing of elections in California.

California's two major good government organizations, the League of Women Voters of California and California Common Cause, joined a growing coalition of community-based organizations by endorsing Proposition 89.

"The League and Common Cause have actively worked to support reasonable measures including contribution limits, limits on campaign spending, partial public financing of campaigns, and better disclosure of the financing of campaigns," said Jackie Jacobberger, President of the League of Women Voters of California. "But the real solution to the runaway spending that has made California's elections a competition of money, not ideas, is public funding -- the Clean Money approach."