Op-ed ("Cose to home") column published in the Press Democrat September 21, 2004
Campaign Reform Begins at Home
Published on September 21, 2004, Page B7
© 2004- The Press DemocratBy Larry Modell
Almost everyone now seems to agree that our system of paying for election campaigns is badly broken.
Campaign spending is skyrocketing, as are big contributions from individuals and businesses that stand to benefit from government decisions. This leads to at least a perception of influence-buying and tends to restrict elected office to those backed by powerful special interests.
The Press Democrat's front page article of Sept. 13 ("Cities' campaign finance laws seen as ineffectual'') helped document this unhappy situation but was curiously dismissive of practical steps being taken, locally and beyond, to correct the problem.
Petaluma has the dubious distinction of being the only Sonoma County city to have taken a giant step backward on campaign finance reform. Last summer, a pro-developer majority of our City Council voted to dramatically weaken the key provisions of what had been the strongest ordinance in the county.
It was this affront to the public interest that prompted our local, all-volunteer advocacy group, Petaluma Tomorrow, to sponsor a citizens' initiative, Measure R, to restore meaningful campaign finance reform in Petaluma.
Significantly, we were able to qualify Measure R for the ballot by putting just 50 volunteers on the streets to gather signatures for an average of 10 hours each, plus expenditures of around $700 for filing and copying costs.
We have been very clear that Measure R is an incremental reform, not a comprehensive solution. But it is still a very tangible advance toward good government in the public interest. It will lower the individual contribution from $500 to $200, which will make the practice of circumventing the law by dividing up large contributions 150 percent harder.
Even more important is the tightened disclosure requirement. Every contribution above $25 will have to be reported, as opposed to current law, which allows contributions of $99 or less to be hidden completely from the public.
Measure R also keeps important provisions from earlier versions of Petaluma's campaign finance ordinances, including a requirement for a third disclosure statement three days before the election, and strengthens enforcement provisions. While Measure R does not include public financing provisions, we expect the public debate on future reforms will include that topic.
Voters concerned about campaign finance inequities locally can take the following steps now:
* Petaluma residents can support Measure R, the campaign finance reform initiative endorsed by the Sonoma County League of Women Voters, the Petaluma Chamber of Commerce and California Common Cause. See www.petaluma-tomorrow.org for more information, including the full text of the measure.
* Those in other communities can join a "good government'' group in your area to bring similar reforms to other city and county elections. Many of these groups are listed on the Library page of the above-mentioned Web site.
* Learn about the likely next step in reforms, public financing and "clean money'' elections, which have been implemented very successfully in many cities and six states. See www.caclean.org and www.publiccampaign.org.
* Encourage the press to do their part, not only by publicizing reported contributions (which they have done well here), but also by reporting on the voting records of elected officials and campaign donations in the same context, so the public can judge whether policy decisions seem to unduly benefit contributors.
* Since a number of our Supreme Court justices seem to have confused the ability of the few to wield disproportionate wealth and power with free speech, vote for a president who will appoint better federal judges.
There is plenty of good work to be done by those who believe elections in our democracy should be based on the principle of one person, one vote, rather than one dollar, one vote.
The driving force in a healthy democracy should not be big blocks of private special interest money, but rather an informed citizenry actively engaged in the direction of their community.
As we are trying to show in our small way in Petaluma, such engaged, open democracy can be both the goal and the means of reaching that goal.
Larry Modell is a Petaluma resident and chair of Petaluma Tomorrow.