Campaign Reform; Petaluma and Cotati Move to Rein in Costs of Local Political Campaigns
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Summary
"We're pleased that it's going to be on the ballot," says Larry Modell, chairman of Petaluma Tomorrow. "It took good hard work to get it there, and we're looking forward to a successful campaign to get it passed." Petaluma Tomorrow, which has "between 50 and 100 members," according to Modell, has been active for about four years. Approximately 50 volunteers circulated the petitions that qualified the initiative for the ballot.
"there were those who said the public matching funds were a waste of money," says Glass, who received about $4,850 in public funding when he ran for mayor after the new campaign finance provisions had been enacted. The people crying waste of money "could be called developers' advocates," says Glass, who adds that a major plank of his successful mayoral campaign rested on increasing "developers' impact fees." The increase in fees to developers, says Glass, will result in about $100 million going into city coffers over the next 25 to 30 years. Without the campaign finance provisions, according to Glass, "Petaluma never would have had an independent mayor," one who was willing to lead the charge for hiking developers' fees.One man's declaration of simple support for candidates is another man's example of why Petaluma needs to reinstitute campaign finance reform. Setting limits on campaign money means candidates don't have to "go cap in hand to the development community for contributions to make their campaigns viable," says Glass, who supports the initiative wholeheartedly. Candidates should never be forced to seek substantial money from business interests, including developers, just to run races in small-town politics, he says. "I'm not saying you're bought off, but to a large extent you have lost your ability to advocate for the public."See the full content of this document
Extract
Campaign Reform; Petaluma and Cotati Move to Rein in Costs of Local Political Campaigns
While it seems campaign finance reform has dropped off of the national agenda, in two southern Sonoma County cities, Petaluma and Cotati, the issue is very much on the front burner.
In Petaluma, a citizens' political group called Petaluma Tomorrow has succeeded in placing a campaign finance reform initiative on the November ballot.Voters will decide whether they want to change the city's campaign finance law and put a $200 cap on the maximum contribution from a single donor to candidates for city office in each election cycle. The current maximu...See the full content of this document
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