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Ky. Senate Candidates Asked To Sign People's Pledge

Advocacy group Common Cause of Kentucky is asking candidates in the state’s highest profile race of the year to sign a new kind of pledge.

The effort is aimed at combating the effects of outside money.

Political observers say the Senate race between Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes could turn out to be the most expensive in history – and a large portion of that money will be coming from donors far away from the Bluegrass.

Common Cause state chair Richard Beliles says that’s not a good for democracy.

"Its not good for the average citizen and, in a way, it's very bad for our ears because we're going to be bombarded with all this outside money that's going to come in and pay for ads on our television stations," he says.

That’s why Beliles’ group is pressing for McConnell and Grimes to sign a pledge that would require both candidates to contribute 50 percent of the cost of every independent ad aired for their side to a charity of the other side’s choosing.

Beliles says it’s a non-partisan approach that has shown positive results where it’s been tried, including in the 2012 Massachusetts Senate race between Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

The Grimes campaign says their candidate has already called for a People’s Pledge. So far the McConnell camp has not signaled any interest in signing.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.
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