"Concern should drive us into action, not into a depression." -- Karen Horney
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Introduction California's newspapers come out with one article or editorial after another documenting the distortions today's campaign finance system inflicts on the political process. Over $130 million was spent by Gov. Gray Davis and his opponents in the 2002 governor’s election. Davis himself spent nearly $78 million, the most ever spent by any politician in a non-presidential race. Candidates seeking election to other offices also raised and spent record-breaking amounts. Gov. Schwarzenegger, in his first year in office raised double ($26.6 million) what Davis had in his first year. Good people without access to big money (or without tons of money on their own), can’t afford such huge campaign costs. Surveys show the results: Voters are consistently dissatisfied with their choices. Polls in 2002, for example, showed that nearly 2/3 of voters were unhappy with their choices for governor. But it's after elections are over that even bigger problems rear their ugly heads. Campaign contributors expect access for their money. And they expect results. Not all unfair benefits campaign contributors receive make the papers. And sometimes when they do, it’s just a barely mentioned subtext of a longer article. But the costs to you are astronomical: Hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money are wasted annually on benefits to special interests. Rules to protect Californians’ lives, health, and environment are twisted and broken. Read here just a few of the news reports describing these problems. And watch this space -- new problems with today’s system appear in the news all the time. Only with your help can we stop these distortions. |
Editorial: Bills could shed light on secret ballot moneySacramento Bee, Editorial, 5/22/13 "This package of bills should get out of each house with a two-thirds vote by the end of this month. If there is no easy way to stem the tide of unlimited money in elections, voters and their elected leaders should insist upon greater transparency." Full story Mercury News editorial: California DISCLOSE Act a must in the era of Citizens UnitedSan Jose Mercury News, Editorial, 5/16/13 SB 52 authors Sen. Mark Leno and Sen. Jerry Hill are right: Voters can't do much to reduce the money in campaigns, but they have the right to know which individuals, corporations or unions it comes from. Full story Contra Costa Times editorial: Disclose source of money for all California political adsContra Costa Times, Editorial, 5/13/13 Californians should encourage state legislators to support the DISCLOSE Act, a bill by two San Francisco-area senators that would require the top three funders of political TV and radio commercials and print and online ads to be boldly identified in the ads. Full story Oakland Tribune editorial: Disclose source of money for all California political adsOakland Tribune, Editorial, 5/13/13 "SB 52 sponsors Sen. Jerry Hill and Sen. Mark Leno are right: Voters can't do much to reduce the money in campaigns, but they have the right to know which individuals, corporations or unions it comes from." Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymityLos Angeles Daily News, Editorial, 5/9/13 "No fine print. None of the misleading names that special-interest groups like to go by. Instead, big, bold words right up front...? Californians should tell their lawmakers they approve this message: SB 52 would bring more vital transparency to state politics." Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymityLong Beach Press Telegram, Editorial, 5/9/13 "California should lead the way on this reform. Many voters here were appalled when an Arizona nonprofit with anonymous backing dropped $11 million into two proposition campaigns. Under the DISCLOSE Act, an ad mostly paid for by money like that would have to say so." Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymityPasadena Star-News, Editorial, 5/9/13 "SB 52 sponsors Sen. Jerry Hill and Sen. Mark Leno are right: Voters can't do much to reduce the money in campaigns, but they have the right to know which individuals, corporations or unions it comes from..." Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymitySan Bernardino Sun, Editorial, 5/9/13 "I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this message." Voters are used to that tagline on political ads... Shouldn't the same principle apply to political ads made by people and groups who aren't officially associated with candidates and ballot measures but wield just as much influence in elections?" Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymityInland Valley Daily Bulletin, Editorial, 5/9/13 "Californians should tell their lawmakers they approve this message: SB 52 would bring more vital transparency to state politics." Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymityWhittier Daily News, Editorial, 5/9/13 "Californians should tell their lawmakers they approve this message: SB 52 would bring more vital transparency to state politics." Full story Editorial: California needs bill to rid campaign ads of anonymityTorrance Daily Breeze, Editorial, 5/9/13 "Californians should tell their lawmakers they approve this message: SB 52 would bring more vital transparency to state politics." Full story Yes to Measures H and LLa Opinion, Editorial, 3/2/11 "Measure H widens the campaign public financing... Voters win when there are more political options during elections..." Full story Times endorsement: Yes on Measure HLos Angeles Times, Editorial, 2/18/11 "Measure H deserves a yes vote... If there is a group whose contributions present the single biggest potential conflict for city candidates, it is the people or companies that stand to receive direct financial benefits from the decisions that those candidates would make once they reach office..." Full story Prop 15 lets us try a race that is won, not boughtSacramento Bee, by Derek Cressman and Janis R. Hirohama, 5/2/10 "Personal wealth or connections to powerful interests shouldn't be a requirement to run for office. We need to change campaigns so that elections are won, not bought. Proposition 15 is a modest step in the right direction that sets us up for a giant leap in the future. Vote yes on Proposition 15." Full story Campaign reform: Vote yes on Prop. 15Bakersfield Californian, Editorial, 4/25/10 "Proposition 15 frees up state and local governments to explore public funding of campaigns, and it authorizes a test case so we can see how it works. Big money has played an outsized role in politics too long.... It's worth your "yes" vote." Full story Prop. 15 is worthy test of 'clean money'San Francisco Chronicle, Editorial, 4/24/10 "The beauty of Proposition 15 is that it targets an office that should be well insulated from fundraising dependence on parties and interest groups... We recommend passage of Prop. 15." Full story The Times recommends a yes vote on Proposition 15Los Angeles Times, Editorial, 4/22/10 "Candidates for office have to raise so much campaign money that they become beholden to the big-spending interests that fund them rather than to the voters who elect them. But there's an alternative... The Times recommends a yes vote on Proposition 15." Full story Editorial: Vote Yes on Proposition 15San Jose Mercury News, Editorial, 3/31/10 "Opponents of the initiative, primarily lobbyists who would lose business if it becomes law... have no ideas of their own, and some of their arguments against Proposition 15 are misleading... There's no doubt that this is worth trying. Vote yes on Proposition 15." Full story True health care reform requires campaign finance reformCalifornia Progress Report, by Zenei Cortez, 12/7/09 "One important lesson we can learn from the year long debate on healthcare reform is that big special interest money is still corrupting our political process and our democracy... It's long past time to reclaim our electoral process so that our officials serve voters, not the biggest industry donors." Full story Ballot measure would help minority candidatesLong Beach Press Telegram, by Warren Furutani, 9/7/09 "Implementing the California Fair Elections Act will help ensure that the "future date" when underrepresented communities are equally represented in Sacramento will come even sooner." Full story Rewrite Sacramento's pay-to-play rulesSan Francisco Chronicle, by Trent Lange and Richard Holober, 8/27/09 "Voters will have the chance to shake up business as usual by passing the California Fair Elections Act on the June 2010 ballot... The California Fair Elections Act is based on the simple notion that elected officials should be accountable to the voters, not donors and special interests..." |
States Try to Tackle Secret Money in PoliticsLos Angeles Times, by Matea Gold, Chris Megerian and Mark Z. Barabak, 5/2/13 Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed legislation to force such groups to disclose their donors. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a measure Thursday requiring independent groups that make election-related donations or expenditures of $6,000 or more . . . to disclose information about their top donors. Full story California's Dark-Money Investigation Is Making Conservatives SweatCenter for Public Integrity, by Andy Kroll, 4/15/13 . . . [S]ome conservatives are nervous that more details—such as the identities of actual donors—could be publicized. "This case has got very, very deep and significant implications," says a conservative lobbyist with knowledge of the investigation. "A lot of folks are going to have their dirty laundry hung out, and it's not going to be pretty. Why would money go through such a circuitous route if not to conceal the donors?" Full story
Shining a light on political donationsWashington Post, by Editorial Board, 5/22/13 "We think openness here is a more valuable public good than is providing a cloak for every fat cat who wants to remain hidden. . . . Now Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has joined with a Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to offer a fresh attempt at a bipartisan bill, the Follow the Money Act . . . In a political system saturated with cash, transparency is the last, best hope for accountability." Full story Billionaires Now Own American PoliticsThe Progressive, by Andy Kroll, 5/20/13 " . . . [T]he traditional political parties, barred from taking all that limitless cash, seem to be sliding toward irrelevance. They are losing their grip on the political process, political observers say, leaving motivated millionaires and billionaires to handpick the candidates and the issues. "It'll be wealthy people getting together and picking horses and riding those horses through a primary process and maybe upending the consensus of the party," a Democratic strategist recently told me. "We're in a whole new world." Full story States Try to Tackle Secret Money in PoliticsLos Angeles Times, by Matea Gold, Chris Megerian and Mark Z. Barabak, 5/2/13 Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed legislation to force such groups to disclose their donors. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a measure Thursday requiring independent groups that make election-related donations or expenditures of $6,000 or more . . . to disclose information about their top donors. Full story
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