Elections: On primary and funding reform

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The Oregonian

Voters will be hearing much about Voter Owned Elections as Portland's next election looms closer. Our City Council [approved] a system that would allow candidates for city elected positions to collect more than 1,000 contributions of $5 to qualify for the ballot, then free them from money-raising to meet voters and present their platforms.

Opponents of the system have filed a repeal initiative. They include people and groups that gave more than $275,000 to candidates in the 2004 city elections.

In Maine and Arizona [which offer public funding for election campaigns], participation has grown since 2000. One Maine senator said, "I want to be beholden to the people who elected me, not special interests." An Arizona representative said, "Voters love it. They understand that it returns power to the people and shifts it away from lobbyists and special interests."

Let's give the system a chance in Portland to prove itself, and not sign the repeal initiative.

JEANNE STEED
Southwest Portland

How many Portland residents have $1,000 to give to any candidate running for city office? I sure don't.

More than 69 percent of the dollars that City Council candidates raised in 2004 came from contributors who gave that much or more. Yet those who could give $1,000 or more totaled less than 10 percent of all donors to City Council races.

It's no wonder that big-dollar donors are seeking to repeal the voter-owned elections system. A small number of deep-pocketed donors stand to lose in a system that levels the giving playing field by making each $5 qualifying contribution as important as the next.

SARAH E. WETHERSON
Research and outreach associate
Money in Politics Research Action Project
Southwest Portland