Bring Campaign Finance Reform to Santa Cruz

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Date:

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Time:

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Event Type:

Meeting

Organizer/Author:

Location Details:

Santa Cruz Public Library (Downtown Branch)
224 Church Street, Santa Cruz

City Council Chambers
809 Center Street, Santa Cruz

Help limit the amount of money spent on local elections!

Please support the City of Santa Cruz proposed ordinance for local campaign reform by joining us at the City Council meeting on June 10th at 7pm. The proposal, supported by council members Micah Posner and Don Lane, will be reviewed that day. It is crucial to show our local government that citizens care -- the power is in our hands!

The goal is to encourage candidates to accept limits on campaign spending by offering a small amount of public financing. More than 40 cities around the country are already doing it. Why not Santa Cruz?

Join a nation-wide movement to level the playing field and limit the power of money in campaigns and elections!

Proposal

Amend and strengthen the city’s Voluntary Campaign Expenditure Ordinance by:

1 - Change voluntary limits on individual and organizational donations to mandatory. (Current limits are $325 for individuals and $780 for organizations).

2 - Strengthen incentive to comply with campaign limits by providing a publicly funded 1-to-1 match to campaign contributions for candidates who agree to the Voluntary Expenditure Limit of $26,641.00. The match will occur at $5,000.00 increments (e.g. If John raises $5,000 in campaign donations the City will contribute $5,000 to his campaign).

See attached PDF to find more information about the proposal..

We will meet at the library in downtown at 7pm and will all go together to the City Council.

For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/3307807937...

Added to the calendar on Wed, Jun 4, 2014 12:28PM

§Working to make a difference

by Constituent

Sun, Jun 8, 2014 12:02PM

Dear Constituents,

June 10th at 7:30PM is our time to make Santa Cruz part of the solution when it comes to money in political campaigns. Please consider coming to the meeting- 809 Center Street or sending an email to citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com

If you are not yet familiar with the proposal to establish spending limits, you can see it (and vote on it) at santacruzelectionreform.org or via the City’s website for the June 10th meeting, evening session. You can also see a U-Tube clip of an event we put on at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCwRcJn1hkA

In essence the proposal (which is sponsored by Don Lane and I) is to provide a one to one public match of campaign expenses for candidates who agree to limit their campaign expenditures and to make current voluntary limits on individual contributions mandatory. This is the best practice currently available to cities and counties who want to level the playing field used by over 40 cities including New York, San Francisco, Ventura and Boulder.

Councilmember Lane and I have gotten support from an interesting group of free thinkers including the Campus Democrats, local business leaders Peter Beckmann and Karl Heiman, the local UAW chapter, Robert Singleton of Civinomics, and the People’s Democratic Club.

The proposal is not a criticism of how things currently work in elections here in Santa Cruz (which is actually pretty reasonable compared to many other places) but a chance to put best practices in place and guard against future problems.

If you want Santa Cruz to be part of the solution to this national problem, please weigh in on the matter. The system will not change without your participation.

Working to make a difference,

Micah Posner

Santa Cruz City Council

§Agenda Report

by Posner/Lane

Mon, Jun 9, 2014 1:46PM