Initiative may financially limit political campaigns
In November you may be able to vote on a ballot measure controlling the funds for candidates running in elections.
The initiative is called Honest Elections Columbia County Ordinance Initiative and is sponsored by Envision Columbia County.
Chief
petitioners Carroll Sweet, Nancy Bubl and Annie Christensen are
currently collecting signatures to pass the initiative. The initiative
states that “limiting large contributions and expenditures in political
campaigns would strengthen democratic institutions, enhance public
confidence in government, and reduce the cost of running for office,
thereby enabling a greater diversity of persons to seek public office.”
Sweet
said Christensen and her had gone to the County Commissioners to talk
about citizen input, and said she had a long and strident meeting.
“One
of the commissioners said ‘well, you know, once you elect your people
you don't really need to have input with them. You don't need all these
public meetings that you guys seem to want all the time’,” Sweet said.
Disagreeing, Sweet explained to the commissioners that it is very
expensive to run a campaign right now.
“I
said, we just did a port election and it cost over $5,000 a person to
run for Port, and this is not a rich community and we just can't afford
it,” Sweet said.
“The
people who got the money were the ones who took money from the oil
companies, the big industrial people, the few very wealthy people in the
community, and that sort of eliminates that common man approach.”
Sweet
said one of the commissioners suggested limited campaign finance. She
went home, did some research and found out that other counties,
including Multnomah County, had done it.
The
ordinance would allow a candidate or candidate committee to not receive
more than $500 from an individual or a political committee, and a loan
balance of not more than $5,000 from the candidate. The initiative also
states that independent expenditures are limited to $5,000 per election
cycle for individuals to support or oppose one or more candidates. A
political committee may spend up to $10,000 in independent expenditures,
“provided that the contributions and/or independent expenditures are
funded by means of contributions to the political committee by
individuals in amounts not exceeding” $500 per individual year, the
initiative reads.
In
Multnomah County on November 8, 2016, voters amended the Multnomah
County Charter to include limits on campaign contributions to $500 to
candidates for Multnomah County office. Earlier this year, on March 6,
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Eric J. Block ruled back key
elements of the charter.
According
to Multnomah County, “the Judge also struck down sections relating to
disclosing contributions and spending for communications saying all the
measures violated Oregon's Constitutional protection of free speech.”
Not
fearing the recent court ruling, Sweet and her fellow activists are
currently collecting signatures for their initiative in Columbia County.
They want all candidates running in county elections to have a fair
election and therefore limited financial budgets, so one you don’t end
up with one candidate having a giant billboard while another can’t
afford it. On the same note, Sweet wants future commissioners to make
decisions based on citizens’ opinions and not based on a giant
contribution from for example a big oil company not even based in the
county.
“We
aren’t making decisions based on whether or not we think it will be
successful. We’re going ahead because it’s the right thing to do,”
Christensen said.
“A lot of the voters don’t realize who’s really calling the shots,” Sweet said.
Bubl
said there is also a statewide effort for 2020. She said the people who
were collecting signatures in Portland for the Multnomah County ballot
measure are now are now going statewide. The women said the more
counties that get the measure on the ballot, and get it passed; the more
likely it seems statewide.
Sweet,
Bubl and Christensen need to collect 1,190 signatures by early August
to get their measure on the November ballot. If you want to sign the
initiative you can contact Envision Columbia County on their Facebook
page or website – www.envisioncc.org