The ever increasing expense of campaigns and the dominance of private special interest money in those elections has undermined democracy in America and has increased the number of people interested in limiting campaign contributions and expenditures. However, in case after case, the US Supreme Court has struck down those same limitations, most recently in Citizens United v FEC in January 2010.

Public funding of campaigns is seem as the major way in which citizens can have their voices heard in our elections, aside from amending the US Constitution to eliminate corporate personhood.

The US Supreme Case decision in Buckley v Valeo (1976) created the justification for using public funds to fund the campaign of candidates to public office. While the decision declared that the expenditures of candidates could not be limited, it also said that if candidates choose to limit their campaign expenditures, they could be eligible for public funds.

This has allowed the movement for public funding of elections to grow. Seven states (Arizona, Connecticut,, Maine, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Vermont) as well as Albuquerque now have public funding systems. Portland, OR had public funding for office of Mayor, all city commissioners and city auditor. In November, 2010 voters were asked to approve of the system and they defeated public funding by less than 1000 votes against.

How it Works

Typically, a city or state with a public funding system in place requires that a candidate get at least a specific number of voters to sign a nomination card and contribute a specific small amount to the candidate ($5.00 is typical). When the candidate has gotten those signature cards and the contribution which prove that the potential candidate has some level of public support, s/he then turns those into the election office. The election office verifies the signatures and, if an adequate number have been gathered, the candidate is certified as a publicly funded candidate and then receives a specific limited amount of money which with to run their campaign.

Candidates choosing this method of running for public office are then limited to only spending the public money and not accepting funds from private sources (except those initial contributions collected to verify that they have public support).

Voter Owned Elections in Portland OR.

On May 18, 2005 in a 4-1 vote of the Portland City Council, the use of the public funding process in Portland OR began.

In order to receive public funds, candidates to any of the city council seats or for City Auditor must collect at least 1000 $5.00 qualifying contributions. Candidates running for Mayor must collect 1500 qualifying contributions. These contributions show existing broad based support. Money is first given for the primary election in May and then, if any of the publicly funded candidate is still in the running, again in the general election in November.

Candidates accepting public funds must agree to limit their campaign spending only to the limited public funds, accept no private contributions, and agree to other strict electioneering limitations.

The Benefits of Voter Owned Elections

• Gets big money private interest money out of the election process
• Enables individuals without access to special interest pots of money to run for public office
• Increases the geographic spread of how elections are funded. In Portland prior to Voter Owned Election, something like 95% of all contributions to candidates running for citywide office came from downtown addresses. With public funding, this concentration has been broken with those $5.00 qualifying contributions coming from across the city.
• Kept the price of non-publicly funded candidates in check as many of them have either limited the size of contributions they would accept or because many of them have limited how much money they will spend.

When the Portland city council approved the public funding experiment, they said that the voters would get to decide in November 2010 on if they wanted to keep the system. By a very small margin, the voters defeated the measure and the public funding system was history.

The efford begins anew

Because public funding was defeated in the November 2010 city wide vote, we have begun an initiative campaign to put the question on the City of Portland ballot in November 2012.

This effort needs your support. Your involvement is required.

Clean Elections: Changing the Face of America/Bill Moyers