Is it time for campaign finance reform? Senator Bill Monning, City Council member Micah Posner and local activist Bruce Van Allen will lead a forum on "The Road to Clean Elections", Sunday, May 4th, at 5 p.m.
Hosted by the Peoples' Democratic Club, a discussion of the issue, recent legislative efforts and local trends in spending and voting will be followed by Council member Posner. He will lay out the ordinance proposal for public financing (available at PDClub.org) he and Don Lane will present to the Santa Cruz City Council on May 13.
As the election season gets closer, I am trying to set up some ground rules for the way that money is used in campaigns. Don Lane and I will be bringing a proposal to the City Council to provide a small amount of public money to candidates who agree to voluntarily limit their expenditures. This model for reform is endorsed by Common Cause and used in over 60 cities including San Francisco, New York, Boulder and Ventura. It matches a bill sponsored in the House of Representatives by Sam Farr: HR20. Our tentative date before the Council is June 10th. City Council candidates have a fairly good culture around money in elections but it is starting to unravel a bit. This is the time to create fair ground rules BEFORE we have the kind of problems with money in campaigns that is rampant around the country.
You can help support this proposal by going to http://www.santacruzelectionreform.org . Please consider taking a pledge to support the proposal and (perhaps more importantly) to only support candidates who agree to voluntarily limit their campaign contributions and expenditures. It is entire possible to win while doing so- Don Lane took 1st place last time and I took 3rd place. Take the pledge on the website or send me an email pledge and I will add your name. We just started the list and already have the pledges of the Campus Democrats, the People’s Democratic Club, Rick Longinotti, Peter Beckmann, and Kaitlin Gaffney, just to state a few. Please consider stating your commitment to an even playing field before we know who is running. This is an issue that gets beyond our usual politics.
Please also consider joining us at an event at 5PM on Sunday, May 4th at the police community room on 155 Center Street. In addition to a thorough vetting of the proposed ordinance, we will have speakers on the history of local election contributions and an overview of state and federal solutions. The event is sponsored by the People’s Democrat Club. According to a recent book by Chief Justice Robert Stevens, money in elections is one of the most serious threats to our democracy. Please join me in discussing the national problem and crafting our local solution.
