Welcome.

“… they will spend enormous dollars to oppose our taxes.”
Mayor Pat Burt, 6/20 Web Link

My comments at orals, 6/21:
Some here have expressed concern about political advertisements, similar to this recent mailer, if you place one or more measures on the November ballot. You cannot limit them, as per Supreme Court decision, but in addition to the required committee name, you could have mandated disclosure of top contributors, clear and legible, on each and every ad. This also would have applied to such “Independent Expenditures” from groups advocating pro or con in regard to city council candidates.

And while you also cannot prevent those candidates from raising and spending as much as they want, you could have instituted the option of a pledge to a reasonable voluntary cap on campaign expenditures together with perks for signing it and penalties if then broken.

For total contributions from a single source to a local candidate, there is a state limit of about $5,000. But you could have required that it be reduced to something much, much lower and therefore moderated the contribution skew toward the wealthy.

All this was documented in the League of Women Voters’ research and proposal to you of last Fall, which has gone nowhere.

After tomorrow this body is on break through the end of July, while city council candidate nomination filings begin. So I now turn my remarks to that audience.

Stand up for these needed reforms by your pledges and deeds in your campaign.
State and adhere to a reasonable limit on individual contributions.
State a reasonable cap on expenditures and stick to it.
Measure and tout your campaign’s success not by the total dollars you receive, but by the number of those who contribute.

If you are new to a council race, lead, stand out, and help create a positive shared norm. If you’ve been here before with your committee in place, don’t be left behind. State your caps, and return any contributions above your threshold.