*Supporters of clean elections ~ * Important news on the public campaign financing front in San Francisco. *1. First, *we executed a simple yet effective strategy to take the wind out of the sails of the effort to remove money from the public campaign financing fund. Possibly as a result the Mayor's office cancelled the Ethics hearing on the matter. We're still not out of the woods yet though. *2. Secondly,* the important proposal to dramatically improve the Board of Supervisors public financing program is going to the full Board next Tuesday and we still need you all to contact the Supervisors to make sure that this crucial legislation passes. See below for details... *Wind taken out of the sails of the public campaign financing fund raid *The Mayor proposed taking money from the public campaign financing fund to pay for a college-prep program called SF Promise. Realizing that it probably would not pass at the Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor issued a threat to put legislation on the February ballot. Working with Board President Aaron Peskin, we had legislation submitted yesterday to fund SF Promise from General Fund dollars, rather than by taking the money from the public campaign financing program. Hopefully, this will take the wind out of any sails to remove money from the public financing fund, as any further attempts to take money from the public financing fund would be clearly designed to defund public campaign financing, rather than to help other valuable programs. As Peskin said, "We don't have to choose between investing in democracy and investing in our children. We can and should support both.'' Examiner article: http://www.examiner.com/a-1020424~Peskin_introduces_SF_Promise_legislation.h... Even so, we're watching closely and have preparations underway just in case any further issues arise. *Still need contacts to Supervisors about important legislation to improve Board of Supes program* * *The Board of Supervisors public campaign financing program is outdated and does not provide candidates with enough matching funds to be truly effective. As a result, candidate participation in the program has been dropping. A very important piece of legislation to raise the level of matching funds will going to the Board of Supervisors for a vote next Tuesday, Nov. 6. In order to pass, the proposal needs 8 out of 11 votes -- so we need you to start contacting the Supervisors to ensure their support. *Please contact Supervisor Bevan Dufty. *Supervisor Dufty has generally been a supporter of campaign reform and valiantly stood with us previously when we created the mayoral public financing program. But because the Mayor was recently trying to take money from the public campaign financing fund and because Dufty and the mayor have a close relationship, we want to ensure that Supervisor Dufty hears from us and knows that there is a powerful constituency for public campaign financing in San Francisco. 554-6968 or Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org Please thank him for his past support and ask him to please support the legislation to improve the Board of Supervisors public campaign financing program. Let him know that the current spending caps and matching levels are too low, and are resulting in fewer and fewer candidates participating. If you're looking for general public financing talking points check out: http://voterownedelections.org/improve_our_democracy.html After you've done that, please email or phone your personal district Supervisor. Their contact info is here: http://sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=7271 Thanks! Rob Arnow San Franciscans for Voter Owned Elections www.voterownedelections.org 415-552-2229