Will Portlanders Slap Limits On Campaign Contributions? Progressive Groups Plan to Find Out - Blogtown
Reformers
had an easy time last year convincing Multnomah County voters to put
limits on campaign contributions for county races. Now they're hoping to
make the same plea at the city level—even as the legality of their
reforms remains an open question.
Months after more than 88 percent of voters
approved Measure 26-184, which strictly limits financing in elections
for county officials, local progressive activists have drafted a measure
to slap the same basic strictures on city races, the Mercury has learned.
"Clearly
the citizenry here wants to do something," says Jason Kafoury, a
Portland attorney who had a central role in pushing last year's reforms.
"We should be thinking big in Portland. Especially with national
politics as corrupt as it is right now."
To refresh, the regulations [PDF]
voters passed in November—set to take effect in September of this
year—limit campaign contributions at $500 per individual or political
action committee, per candidate. So-called small donor committees could
only accept donations of up to $100 per contributor, but contribute as
much as they want to candidates.
The
regulations also limit how much people or organizations can spend to
tout a candidate via "independent expenditures," and require that the
top five donors that fund campaign advertisements are explicitly listed.
As we reported recently,
there's no telling whether some of those provisions are legal. A 1997
Oregon Supreme Court ruling prohibited limits on campaign contributions,
and the US Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision
did the same for independent expenditures. As a result of all this,
Oregon has some of the loosest campaign finance laws in the country.
So
the county is taking the rare step of asking a Multnomah County judge
to gauge the merits of its new campaign finance laws before they kick
in. A hearing in the case is expected next month, and could culminate in
the policies being wholly or partially ruled illegal (an outcome
advocates would appeal).
The
uncertainty doesn't matter to Kafoury and his cohort, who tentatively
hope to land a city campaign finance measure on the May 2018 ballot. An
early draft of that measure [PDF]
has many similarities to the county policy, but also far more specifics
about how top donors to campaign ads would need to be identified
(including a partial accounting of how they make money).
Kafoury
argues the limits would have a more profound effect on city races,
which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more to run than
contests for county seats. Mayor Ted Wheeler, for instance, raised more than $780,000 last year—and his race didn't go past the May primary.
But
it's not clear a majority of council will agree. Reformers are hoping
the council will vote to refer a change to the City Charter to the
ballot, which would save them from having to collect signatures.
But the makeup of City Council shifted in January in ways that might not favor them. When Commissioner Amanda Fritz succeeded in pushing
a public campaign finance system through council late last year, she
relied on the votes of former Mayor Charlie Hales and former
Commissioner Steve Novick to do so. Commissioners Nick Fish and Dan
Saltzman both opposed passing the policy outright, instead saying they
wanted voters to decide. Wheeler, not in office yet, was perceived to be
skeptical of the program. Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, also not in office
yet, publicly supported the effort.
It's
too early to say what shape discussions around campaign finance reform
could take in the next year. We've reached out to various commissioners'
offices to see if they'd support a new push, but Kafoury acknowledges
his group hasn't set meetings.
In
addition to the potential push in Portland, the Oregon Progressive
Party and Alliance for Democracy are hoping to change the state
constitution to formally allow campaign contribution limits. According
to that initiative's website, they're shooting for a November 2018 ballot measure.
By the way, speaking of campaigns, next Tuesday is election day. YOU NEED TO VOTE.