Wednesday, June 01, 2005

IN MY OPINION Tamsen Wassel and Carol Cushman

Public financing will diversify Portland political process

During the past several weeks, The Oregonian has twice criticized the idea of publicly financed election campaigns for Portland, including offering the view that there is "no urgency and no emergency" ("Thanks for that pat on the head," May 20), that this issue is "relatively petty" ("Diplomatic dispatches," May 22) or a "frill" (May 20).

Perhaps the editorial board has not noticed the ever-increasing cost of campaigns for Portland mayor and City Council. Perhaps it has not noticed that the funding is coming from a concentrated set of donors. Or that small donors represent only a minor fraction of total dollars contributed.

The City Club of Portland and the League of Women Voters of Portland have not failed to notice that increasing campaign costs and the requirements for time and energy spent fundraising have limited the diversity of candidates for City Council and their engagement with voters. Even Mayor Tom Potter, often cited as a counter-example, acknowledged this in casting the last council vote for publicly financed campaigns, saying "I was an anomaly."

The City Club has researched the issue of campaign finance in our state in 1973, 1976, 1994 and 2000. All attempts at dealing with the issue by limiting contributions or expenditures have been found to conflict with the Oregon Constitution. In 2000 the City Club concluded that public financing offered one of the best opportunities to provide reform within a constitutional framework.

The League of Women Voters first studied this issue in 1973 and has worked at the federal, state and local levels in support of the following member-adopted position: "Improve methods of financing political campaigns in order to ensure the public's right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office and promote citizen participation in the political process." The league joined the coalition working to pass Measure 6, a public-funding proposal for candidates for state offices, which was defeated by a last-minute opposition campaign funded by special interests.

Indeed, in 2000, editorializing about Measure 6, The Oregonian supported precisely this kind of public-financing proposal at the state level.

The members of the Portland City Council have thoughtfully and responsibly voted to implement a system of campaign finance that is likely to make their own re-election contests more challenging. They understand, as do the City Club and the League of Women Voters, that this is an important and timely step to preserve and enhance an open and diverse political process here in Portland.

Tamsen Wassell is first vice president of the City Club of Portland. Carol Cushman is president of the League of Women Voters of Portland.