Public campaign financing supporters ~
Yesterday, Ken Garcia, the ranting ideologue who writes a column for the
Examiner, wrote his latest op-ed attacking the public campaign financing
program in San Francisco.
Of course, his arguments were empty, as usual, but it presents a great
opportunity for us to get pro-public financing letters into the paper.
*Can you take a few minutes to draft a letter to the editor?* If we get
a few in, we'll usually get one or two printed.
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/ken_garcia/Guess_who_foots_bill_f…
*Please send letters to letters(a)sfexaminer.com.* They should be around
or less than 150 words. And you MUST put your name, address and phone
number at the end of the letter since they usually call to verify your
identity.
*And here are some talking points you can use if you like:
*
*1.* Garcia implies that it's easy to qualify for public financing. In
reality, out of 7 open seats, only 19 candidates have qualified. That's
an average of less than 3 qualified candidates per race. To qualify,
candidates must show community support by raising a large number of
small donations.
*2.* Public campaign financing levels the playing field and ensures that
voters have the opportunity to make a decision based on the merits and
ideas of the candidates, rather than their fundraising abilities.
*3. *Campaign donations are a form of legalized bribery, wherein
politicians are expected to give favors to their large donors. Public
financing ensures that candidates are accountable to the public, rather
than wealthy special interests.
*4. *Both Barack Obama and John McCain are big supporters of public
financing. McCain supported public funding in Arizona and Obama has
co-sponsored a bill for public funding of congressional campaigns.
*5. *Public financing SAVES money. The cost in San Francisco is
currently capped at $2 million per year, but the cost of favors to
contributors is far more. We just spent $700 billion in congress, in
giveaways to large financial institutions, because of their power over
the political process. Here are some local examples as well:
http://voterownedelections.org/save_money.html
Here is the letter that I sent:
Editor ~
Ken Garcia implies in his recent column that just about anyone can get
public funds to run for Supervisor. Nothing could be further from the
truth. In order to qualify, candidates have to raise a large number of
small donations to prove a wide base of public support.
The sad fact is that it requires a lot of money to run for public
office, and when candidates rely on massive amounts of private money,
they are often expected to give inappropriate favors to their donors in
exchange. In the absence of public financing, only candidates who are
willing to do the bidding of well-funded special interests have a chance
to compete. It's no wonder voters feel they have a government controlled
by real estate speculators, oil industry executives and the like.
I suspect this is why Garcia is against public campaign financing. He
tends to believe that these wealthy special interests are somehow more
responsible than the rest of us, and therefore, should be the ones
calling the shots in government. I disagree.
Rob Arnow
24 Lander St.
San Francisco, CA
94114
415-596-5808
--
San Franciscans for Voter Owned Elections
www.voterownedelections.org
415-552-2229
Fighters for an accountable democracy,
I’ve got some great news to share. Because of the tremendous push by
each and every one of you who made a phone call or sent an email, along
with the tremendous efforts of the California Clean Money Campaign and
Common Cause, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two
important reform bills!
The first bill, authored by Assemblymember Loni Hancock, will place a
pilot program of full public financing for Secretary of State elections
onto the 2010 primary ballot. It will allow candidates for Secretary of
State to run for office without having to raise big money from special
interests. We’ll have a big effort on our hands to educate voters about
the program over the next 18 months, but for now it is time to celebrate.
The second bill, authored by Senator Ron Calderon, will allow citizens
to register on-line as voters. Since implementing a similar law,
Arizona has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people registering
to vote, as well as significant cost savings. Allowing people to
register online provides a simple, convenient and secure registration
process which in 2007, over 70% of people registering to vote used.
On-line registration will take some time to get up and running, but it
will make a dramatic difference in expanding our democracy.
In order to keep up the Clean Elections momentum going strong, the
California Clean Money Campaign is trying to raise $100,000 by Oct. 31,
and so far, they're a third of the way there. Please help them out if
you can by visiting this page:
https://caclean.org/content/support/donate.php?ref=ne:200810-signing&
Sincerely,
Rob Arnow
San Franciscans for Voter Owned Elections
www.voterownedelections.org
415-552-2229
