Benicia City Council, Campaign finance, Local elections, Local Regulation, Negative campaigning, Public campaign financing

A suggestion for cleaning up Benicia election campaigns: public financing

Council to consider cleaning up election campaigning – Tuesday

From an E-Alert by Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

Council to consider cleaning up election campaigning – Tuesday

December 14, 2018

[excerpted]… Many people consider the last election flawed because of the excessive money spent by the Political Action Committee of Valero and their affiliated entities’ efforts to buy two council seats.  What more can be done to keep elections from becoming a money-horse race and not about issues?  Below is one approach that could be considered.  Other cities have adopted a variety of programs that could be reviewed and considered.

Governor Brown Signs Major Step Towards Citizen-Funded Elections

SB 1107 signed by Governor Brown after passing legislature with bipartisan support

By Press Release – California Clean Money Campaign, September 29th, 2016

SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill giving all Californian jurisdictions the right to give their citizens a bigger voice in democracy by changing the way election campaigns are financed. SB 1107 amends California’s antiquated ban on public financing of campaigns to allow local governments and the state to pass their own systems for citizen funding of election campaigns to magnify the voices of small donors and everyday voters.

SB 1107 was authored by Senator Ben Allen and coauthored by Senator Loni Hancock and Assemblymembers David Chiu and Lorena Gonzalez. Sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign and California Common Cause, SB 1107 allows public financing of campaigns in California elections if they’re paid for by dedicated campaign finance trust funds and are “available to all qualified, voluntarily participating candidates for the same office without regard to incumbency or political party preference”.

“Californians are demanding greater accountability from their elected officials, and rightfully so. Anything we can do to empower communities to reduce the influence of money in campaigns is a good thing”, said Senator Ben Allen, author of SB 1107.

SB 1107 passed the legislature with bipartisan support. Republican Senators Anthony Canella (R-Ceres) and Bob Huff (R-Brea) and Assemblymembers Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon), Ling Ling Chang (R-Brea), and David Hadley (R-Torrance) all deserve great credit for standing up for the voices of regular voters against special interests, as do all the Democrats who voted Yes. Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles) and SB 1107’s author Senator Allen (D-Redondo Beach) and Assembly floor manager Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) also deserve special commendation for their leadership in passing SBÂ 1107.

“The undue influence of big money special interests in politics isn’t a partisan issue,” said Assemblymember David Hadley (R-Torrance), one of the key votes in SB 1107 achieving its needed 2/3 majority in the Assembly. “I voted for SB 1107 to give cities and counties the local control they need to develop campaign finance systems that work for them, and look forward to working with the California Clean Money Campaign and others to explore carefully-crafted citizens-funded election systems to strengthen election accountability.”

More than 57,000 Californians signed petitions urging Governor Brown to pass SB 1107, and thousands more called Governor Brown and their legislators. A coalition of 40 state and national organizations weighed in for the bill, contributing an additional 50,000 petition signers from across the country urging California to lead. Besides SB 1107 sponsors California Clean Money Campaign and California Common Cause, organizations that actively worked to pass SB 1107 included: California Church Impact, California Labor Federation, California League of Conservation Voters, California School Employees Association, CALPIRG, Corporate Accountability International, Courage Campaign, CREDO, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, Every Voice, Friends of the Earth, GMO Free USA, League of Women Voters of California, Money Out Voters In, People Demanding Action, People For the American Way, Progressive Democrats of America, Sierra Club California, Represent.US, RootsAction.org, UFCW, and Voices for Progress.

“Californians are crying out for reform of our broken campaign finance system, as shown by the tremendous outpouring of support for SB 1107,” said Trent Lange, President of the California Clean Money Campaign, co-sponsor of SB 1107. “We’re very grateful to Governor Brown and the bipartisan legislative leaders who made its passage possible so that Californians can explore citizen funded elections systems that give regular voters a stronger voice against big money special interests”.

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The California Clean Money Campaign is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to lessening the unfair influence of Big Money on election campaigns. For further information, visit www.CAclean.org.