A movement for an accountable government
A movement to make politicians accountable to the public, rather than well-funded special interests, has been sweeping the country in recent years. In response to record amounts of special interest money going into political campaigns, a citizen's movement has taken form which is successfully putting government back in the hands of the public.
One of the most powerful remedies for the influence of big money in politics is publicly funded political campaigns, where the public, rather than private interests, fund the campaigns of candidates, ensuring that politicians are accountable only to voters, rather than special interest contributors. While healthcare reform is often blocked by the insurance industry, Maine, which implemented a public campaign funding program in 2000, was able to implement the nation's first universal healthcare program, as politicians were ultimately accountable to voters, rather than campaign donors.
Read more on this site to find out more about what we've done and are doing in San Francisco, or visit our partner's sites to find out about exciting campaigns at the state and federal level.
2008 San Francisco Clean Government Pledge
San Franciscans for Voter Owned Elections, in partnership with the California Clean Money Campaign, circulated a pledge to San Francisco Supervisorial candidates in the 2008 elections.
 The pledge commits candidates to fully funding the current public campaign financing program as well as supporting expansion to a full public campaign financing system that covers all city offices.
20 out of 42 candidates signed the pledge, including the vast majority of the frontrunners in the race. Signatories came from across the San Franciso political spectrum, with both moderate and progressive candidates agreeing that while they might disagree on policy, that they thought elections should be won based on the merits and ideas, not the fundraising abilities, of the candidates.
Most of the candidates who won re-election were signatories to the pledge. The victorious signatories were: Eric Mar (D1), David Chiu (D3), Ross Mirkarimi (D5), David Campos (D9) and John Avalos(D11).
You can download a copy of the Pledge here which explains the details of what supportive candidates have agreed to.
Read this recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle which discusses the program and mentions our pledge.
What is public campaign financing?
The concept of Voter Owned Elections (or 'public campaign financing') is simple:
the public helps fund the campaigns of candidates who can
demonstrate a wide base of public support by collecting a
large number of small donations. In exchange, candidates agree
to strict limits on private fundraising. Public campaign financing is a good
government reform that helps ensure that candidates are accountable
to the public, rather than well-funded special interests, and creates
a situation where all serious candidates have enough resources
to get their message into the hands of voters.
- Gives voters the opportunity to make a decision based on the merits of the candidates rather than their fundraising abilities.
- Ensures candidates are accountable to the public rather than well-funded special interests.
- Ensures women and minority groups have a fair opportunity to participate in elective and governmental processes.
- Significantly reduces the amount of time that candidates need to spend raising money -- giving
them more time to focus on serving the public.
- Saves money by reducing inappropriate giveaways to campaign contributors.
What are we doing about it?
In 2000, voter-approved Proposition O created a public campaign financing program for Board of Supervisors races. Steven Hill, our senior advisor, was instrumental in that effort. In 2005, our organization was created to spearhead the successful effort to expand public campaign financing to the San Francisco mayoral race. Since then we successfully helped lobby for the passage of a bill which dramatically improved the Board of Supervisors public campaign financing program. And recently, we circulated the 2008 Clean Government Pledge which commits candidates for Supervisor to protecting and improving the public campaign financing program in San Francisco.
We are also supporting efforts at the federal level for public funding of congressional campaigns and at the state level where an initiative will be on the June 2010 ballot to create a pilot program of full public financing for Secretary of State races.
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Help pass the Fair Elections initiative which will be on the June 2010 CA ballot, and which would create a pilot program of full public financing for Secretary of State races.
Greenlining Institute Report: Public campaign
financing boosts minority candidates and participation.
California
Democratic Party Makes Full Public Financing of Campaigns
One of its Top Ten Priority Resolutions in 2005
”Public financing is the difference between being
able to go out and spend your time talking with voters,
meeting with groups, . . . traveling to communities that
have been under-represented in the past, as opposed to
being on the phone selling tickets to a $250 a plate fundraiser.”
--Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano,
elected under Arizona's Voter Owned Elections program
"Four states: Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts
and Vermont are experimenting with offering qualified
candidates for office the option of public financing:
In exchange for refusing to pander to contributions
from donors who may want political favors, they get
a reasonable taxpayer stipend for their campaigns. .
. . The simple truth is that campaigning is expensive,
and candidates will get the money someplace. Far better
that the public, not special interests, put up the bucks."
--USA Today Editorial |
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