Alliance for Democracy

​

​
  • Home
  • About Us
    • National Council and staff
    • Founder, Ronnie Dugger
  • Campaigns
    • Disarming Violence
    • System Change Initiatives
    • Public Banking >
      • Article: Money and Democracy
  • Media
    • Corporations and Democracy >
      • Archives
    • Justice Rising
    • Populist Dialogues >
      • Broadcast in your city
    • In the News
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Support Our Work
  • Links

Winning ballot measures push for campaign finance and amendment support

11/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureAfD co-chair David Delk joins in delivering ballot question petitions
Alliance members in Oregon and Massachusetts have been working on ballot questions that take on campaign finance reform and Citizens United, and on Election Day, those efforts paid off.
In Portland, the Alliance for Democracy chapter worked to pass a city charter amendment establishing limits on campaign contributions/expenditures. The Honest Elections charter amendment will add donation limits to the city charter, including a $500 limit on donations from individuals, and a limit of $5,000 on loans from candidates to their own campaigns. It also mandates disclosure by name of funders for campaign ads and other communications, along with the industry they represent.

The measure passed 87% to 12%, with about three-quarters of the votes counted as of Wednesday.

This Portland ballot measure is based on an earlier county-wide ballot question, which passed in 2016 with almost 90% support. Unfortunately, implementation of this measure is currently tied up in the court system, where a judge has ruled that the measure's limit on individual donations is a violation of state protection of free speech.

Oregon is a campaign finance cellar-dweller, second only to Mississippi in terms of regulation, and scoring nearly straight Fs in a 2015 study of state anti-corruption initiatives. (The Koch-funded "Institute for Free Speech," on the other hand, gives Oregon an A for having the "best" system of campaign finance regulation, that is to say none).

As a result, it takes a lot of money to run for office in Oregon, with donations coming mostly from developers, timber companies, and finance. Oregon state legislature candidates raise and spend more money, per capita, than candidates in any other state, except for New Jersey.

In Massachusetts, several Alliance members worked on the “Yes on 2” campaign. Proposed by American Promise, Question 2 supports a federal amendment to overturn Citizens United, and creates a "citizen's commission" to "investigate and report on the effects Citizens United and similar court cases have had on our political discourse."

Massachusetts democracy activists remember how their legislature blocked a Clean Elections initiative, and how the state's public banking study commission was quickly dominated by big banks who decided a public bank was unnecessary. Having already passed more than 200 local resolutions for an amendment, they weren't surprised that Question 2 passed—with with 72% of the vote—but they expect the real campaign will be to get a commission appointed quickly, and have it include activists from grassroots groups. Stay tuned!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    April 2022
    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    November 2015
    August 2015
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    Afghanistan
    Boston
    Candidate Questions
    Corporations And Democracy
    Democracy
    Democracy Convention
    Fast Track Authority
    Health Care
    Local Food
    Militarization
    Money In Politics
    NAFTA
    National Council Actions
    Peace
    Peoples Vote Must Count
    Portland OR
    President Obama
    Public Banking
    Public Health
    Ronnie Dugger
    System Change Initiatives
    Take Action
    Tpp
    Tpp Free Zone
    Trade Justice
    Washington DC
    Water

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.