St. Johns Sentinel

December 2005

To the Editor:

Campaign Finance Reform is essential to allow the voices of ordinary people to be heard in our democracy.  I am proud and excited to be a Portland voter, participating in the upcoming City of Portland “Voter Owned Elections.”  There is a lot of information on the Web about the new system, but essentially, here is how it works.

To participate in the new system a candidate gets 1000 Portland residents who are eligible to vote, to each sign a petition and each contribute $5.  That 1000 signatures and $5000 qualify the candidate to receive $150,000 for campaign expenses. The candidate pledges to not raise or spend any other money after she gets the $150,000.  She can spend the money on TV ads, polls, and other regular campaign expenses.  Anything not spent goes back to the city treasury.  A candidate for Portland City Council can also choose to raise money the old way, mostly getting big donations from the rich and powerful.  Similar “Voter Owned Elections” systems are fully in place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in Maine and Arizona.  Vermont, New Jersey, and North Carolina have partially adopted some aspects of the public financing campaign reform.

The League of Women Voters here supports this ordinance.  However, an initiative has been filed opposing it.

Mayor Tom Potter’s modestly financed overthrow of Jim Francesconi showed us that people are ready for candidates who are not in debt to big money donors.

Susan Landauer
Portsmouth