It is important to recognize that the goal of Voter Owned Elections is not simply to reign in campaign spending but to put government back into the hands of the public. Voter Owned Elections help to ensure that politicians are accountable to the voters and not to well-funded special interest groups that donate large sums to campaigns. Public campaign financing also ensures that marginalized groups, such as women, minorities and low-income citizens who may not have access to special interest funding or the ability to loan themselves large sums of money still have an opportunity to participate in the electoral process.
Opponents of Voter Owned Elections point out that fundraising comes with the territory of running for office and that some are uncomfortable with their tax dollars paying for the campaigns of candidates they do not support. Campaign reform involves questioning such assumptions. Public financing greatly reduces the amount of time candidates spend raising money, allowing them more time for serving the public through direct voter interaction. For candidates who are not independently wealthy or cannot afford to quit their day job in order to campaign, this can make running for office an option, and will serve to diversify the pool of candidates. As for the cost, Voter Owned Elections is expected to cost each Chapel Hill resident $1.88 during its first four years, which covers two elections. The 2009 elections will cost each taxpayer $0.94.
As a final note, the citizens of Chapel Hill should remember that Voter Owned Elections was approved overwhelmingly by the Town Council, and is supported by over 30 state-wide organizations such as the League of Women Voters, the AARP, the NC Association of Educators, and the NC Council of Churches. Over a dozen cities and counties across the country have instituted public campaign financing and report overwhelmingly positive results.
Opponents of Voter Owned Elections point out that fundraising comes with the territory of running for office and that some are uncomfortable with their tax dollars paying for the campaigns of candidates they do not support. Campaign reform involves questioning such assumptions. Public financing greatly reduces the amount of time candidates spend raising money, allowing them more time for serving the public through direct voter interaction. For candidates who are not independently wealthy or cannot afford to quit their day job in order to campaign, this can make running for office an option, and will serve to diversify the pool of candidates. As for the cost, Voter Owned Elections is expected to cost each Chapel Hill resident $1.88 during its first four years, which covers two elections. The 2009 elections will cost each taxpayer $0.94.
As a final note, the citizens of Chapel Hill should remember that Voter Owned Elections was approved overwhelmingly by the Town Council, and is supported by over 30 state-wide organizations such as the League of Women Voters, the AARP, the NC Association of Educators, and the NC Council of Churches. Over a dozen cities and counties across the country have instituted public campaign financing and report overwhelmingly positive results.
Issues:
Comments
Penny Rich
I think it's great that Penny is pursuing to VOE option. It will be interesting to see what others make that choice. It will also be interesting to see which candidates choose to take funding from special interest groups rather than pursuing the VOE option.
Important Point
I don't think it is VOE vs. the "evil" option! VOE is "special interest" money from a special and endangered group called tax payers! Note that all voters are not tax payers.Interesting that the CHTC members who voted for it and are running this year are NOT participating. Any thoughts on why?We need a better grasp on "special interest" money since we don't define it very well. I have yet to see any reports on how "special interest" money has been so influential in our local elections. I know, Sally said she was given a bundle of "special interest" checks and she gave them back. Isn't it great when we have principled candidates who can make the system work without more rules! If 50 people from neighborhood groups give to a candidate, is that "special interest" money ?
Trendsetters: Setting the Statewide Election Stage
Here is a segment from an e-mail I got from the Orange County
Democratic Party regarding a public forum on Voter Own Elections I attened a couple of weeks ago.
I think it is kind of cool that we could be setting the stage for statewide campaign finance reform. Here are a few relevant sites they mentioned at that public forum if anyone wants to read up more on VOE:http://www.democracy-nc.org/LocalVOE.shtml
http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/content.aspx?id=106
The part I don't understand
I can't figure out how it can be effective if it's not required for all candidates.
Well it does have a built in financial boost
if your opponent is outspending you by a certain amount to keep you competitive. But the whole money = speech thing keeps it from being mandatory participation.
Not convinced
that what happens in CH means much for statewide elections since the role of money is so different because the costs and types of campaigns are so different.I support this for judges because they let me make my own personal choice. Spending is political speech until they say it isn't.Remember too that there was the claim that this program who attract new candidates; unless something changes by noon tomorrow, we failed that test! Most must admit its not really about money to win; it's really about time to serve! We operate here on the level of personality, don't we?So to Marks question, why isn't everybody taking our money?
Test Not Being Graded Until Nov
I don't think we can say whether or not it has passed or failed until Nov when we see if either our Mayor or one of our Town Council Members is voter owned.
I Hope
that you understand that I was only talking about that one aspect of the program encouraging new candidates to run for office. We will know that outcome for sure tomorrow at noon, not November.Should participation by those who voted for it be another evaluation criteria?This is a multi-part test, yes?
I see what you're saying
and agree there are definitely several testing points throughout this semester of elections. Hopefully the very act of having a voted owned candidate win though will help bring the attention to the program needed to inspire new candidates interest. Someone who has never run for office before might be hesitant until they see this program actually resulting in someone getting elected. I think if we end up with a Voter Owned Mayor & Town Council Member we will have more interest next time around, and that is why I see that as the final exam that carries the most weight, but you are right there are other tests & quizes that will be encountered along the way.
I would have supported VOE but not participated
Fred, you asked why the CH council members running for re-election are not participating, even those who supported it. When I ran for re-election in 1995, admittedly back in the stone ages (gasp, then I didn't even have a website), I would not have signed onto VOE, to increase my flexibility. I was very easily able to raise 9,100 dollars in lots of little contributions, none over $100. The contributions came from a wide variety of sources, and since none was large, I certainly wasn't beholden to any special interest due to campaign contributions. Any incumbent who has done a good job would likely not particpate. I think that VOE primarily will help the newcomers.I would speculate that this year's CH mayor's race will be all about setting spending records. Anyone want to take bets on Matt C's personal spending? Will it win for him?
I would only say
that it's his right to spend what he wants--- but note, that means a VOE candidate will gets "rescue funds" if he hits the peg point. I believe this is contrary to the Davis v. FEC Supreme Court decision. Other jurisdictions are already examining their programs to deal with this.
Davis v. FEC
For those not familiar with the case: In June 2008 the Supreme Court struck down the "Millionaires' Amendment" as unconstiutional in a 5-4 vote (opinion by Alito). The "Millionaires' Amendment" was part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 that raised the limits on contributions to congressional candidates if their opponent spent above $350,000 of personal funds on his or her campaign. Since that decisions, opponents of Voter Owned Elections have used the case to question the validity of public financing. Here is why I think they are wrong. The Court in Davis did not review the issue of voter owned elections because they had ruled on it previously. In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court directly reviewed the issue of public financing and found it to be constitutional. They found that public funding serves a compelling state interest and reduces corruption (or the appearance of corruption). In fact, the Davis court cited that case, saying:"In Buckley, we held that Congress may engage in public financing of election campaigns and may condition acceptance of public funds on an agreement by the candidate to abide by specified expenditure limitations even though we found an independent limit on overall campaign expenditures to be unconstitutional."If the Supreme Court wanted to overturn Buckley with Davis, or had they wanted to address the constitutionality of rescue funds, they certainly could have. Not only did they not overrule it, they specifically addressed the issue and upheld its constitutionality.
More accurate
to say that the case did not address the validity of public financing but it does call in to question the "rescue funding" provision of several VOE ordinances. "Punishing" candidates who spend too much the court said is a clear violation of the First Amendment's protection of political speech.If there was nothing to it, I doubt that other jurisdictions like New Jersey and Arizona would be investing time and money to see what the impact might be on their ordinances.Maybe this is why North Carolina slowed things down. Don't you just love 5-4 votes!
Bail-out money
I bet some of that billions & billions of bail-out money that we taxpayers were forced to give to AIG, Goldman, Sachs, etc. ends up funding some campaigns. They helped trash our economy, they get more "political free-speech" power and the ordinary taxpayer gets less.
Kevin Wolff 3rd in for Voter Owned Elections
I must have missed this, but now there are three VOE candidates.http://dailytarheel.com/content/kevin-wolff-signs-voter-owned-elections
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/elect/2009CandidateFilings.asp confims he added his name to VOE on August 25.
Does anyone know this guy?
His recent electoral choices come across as a bit odd. Is there some method to his "madness"?
Looking Back & Reflecting - VOE
I found it interesting to look back and reflect on this thread, especially discussions about whether or not the final exam would be passed (which I think it clearly has), and valid concerns like "I can't figure out how it can be effective if it's not required for all candidates" especially since rescue funds actually came into play. Most especially this comment from the OCDP:This year's Chapel Hill election is not merely a local issue
-- it is important state-wide. The bill that would have extended public
financing was put on hold in the Senate because they wanted to see how
the Chapel Hill election goes. I wonder if seeing that VOEs are effective will help get it more use next election cycle?