Quote of the Day

"There is a very radical measure which would, I believe, work a substantial improvement in our system of conducting a campaign, although I am well aware that it will take some time for people so to familiarize themselves with such a proposal as to be willing to consider its adoption. The need for collecting large campaign funds would vanish if Congress provided an appropriation for the proper and legitimate expenses of each of the great national parties, an appropriation ample enough to meet the necessity for thorough organization and machinery, which requires a large expenditure of money. Then the stipulation should be made that no party receiving campaign funds from the Treasury should accept more than a fixed amount from any individual subscriber or donor; and the necessary publicity for receipts and expenditures could without difficulty be provided."

-Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 State of the Union Address

$3,144,950

The Mother's Milk feature the LA TIMES started has a scoreboard feature -- which has already been updated today. It shows that $3,144,950 was raised yesterday, bringing the year to date today to $303,771,114. To put in perspective, the money that moved yesterday, if converted to $100 bills would stand over twelve feet high and weigh over sixty pounds. And that was just yesterday.

Phone Bank for Proposition 89

We need your help phone banking for Proposition 89. These personal contacts with voters are very important to our statewide field plan. Starting this Wednesday (9/13), the Nurses are coordinating phone banks at the following locations:

• Sacramento
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Glendale
• Oakland

The program begins this Wed, Sep 13th and then will run every Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thursday from 5-9pm. They are flexible about the length of slots. Food and refreshments will be served each night.

If you can volunteer, please contact:

Ted Cahill
Prop 89 Field Director
Email: tcahill@calnurses.org
Phone: 510 273 2248

Please help spread the word.

Sierra Club Endorses Proposition 89

From a press release:

At a semi-annual weekend conference, Sierra Club California endorsed Proposition 89, an initiative on the November ballot that will enact a broad system of public financing of political campaigns for all statewide offices. The endorsement gives a vital boost to the initiative supported by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause and California Clean Money Campaign, and sponsored by the California Nurses Association.

“If you want clean air and clean water, you need clean elections,” said Bill Magavern, senior advocate for Sierra Club California. “Proposition 89 will eliminate the corrupting influence of donors who want to weaken environmental laws by shifting power back to the voters who overwhelmingly support measures to ensure a healthy, safe, and clean environment,” continued Magavern.

“We are thrilled to have the Sierra Club’s endorsement,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of California Clean Money Action Fund, one of the organizations pushing Proposition 89. “The people of California know that the Sierra Club is looking out for their right to a clean and healthy environment.”

Welcome on board. Check out the full list of Proposition 89 supporters.

Quote of the Day

"It should be evident to any even halfway objective observer that the Legislature is an abjectly dysfunctional body, chronically incapable of responding effectively to the issues that arise from a fast-growing, fast-changing state. That malaise has many roots, but one of them is the essentially closed nature of legislative politics, which are disconnected from the socioeconomic reality of the state and driven by the wishes of a relative handful of powerful interest groups."

-Dan Walters

LA Times Political Blog

The LA Times has rolled out a political blog and a new feature called Mother's Milk which covers the money flow in California politics. Today they track:

THE DAY IN NUMBERS
Total political contributions for all state races:
Last week: $19,465,032

Year to date: $300,626,164
Source: Calif. Secretary of State

Wow.

UPDATE: Bob Salladay has a "why money is important" about page to explain why the Times has created Mothers Milk, a mission statement if you will:

Seventy years ago, another Austrian ruled California. His name was Arthur Samish, the son of an immigrant who became the most powerful lobbyist in state history. At 300 pounds, the outsized man was master of leveraging campaign contributions and personal favors for the oil, movie studio, insurance and tobacco industries.

This year will prove that little has changed — California politics remains dominated by money.

The 2006 election is destined to set another record in political spending — cash will pour in from oil and tobacco companies, powerful unions, millionaires and corporate donors. They will unload more than $200 million to finance the governor's race, a host of initiatives, the Democratic and Republican parties, and various front groups. [...]

It's difficult to find a campaign donor without a tie to some powerful interest in Sacramento. Elected officials say donations don't influence their votes. They frequently quote Jesse M. Unruh, the legendary former Assembly Speaker, who said: "If you can't take their money, drink their booze, eat their food, screw their women and vote against them, you don't belong here."

But another quote from Unruh may be more operative this year: "Money is the mother's milk of politics."

If you are going to talk about money in California politics, I would suggest another quote the most constructive this year: "Vote Yes on Proposition 89"

$26,400,000

From the LA Times:

As legislators were approving more than 1,000 bills in August, Schwarzenegger was crossing the state, and the country, soliciting campaign cash. Now, as he decides whether to sign those bills into law or nix them with a veto, he will be cashing checks from scores of contributors whose interests intersect with legislation.

Schwarzenegger is vastly out-raising his Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Phil Angelides. He has taken $26.4 million into his reelection account so far this year, compared with Angelides' $13.4 million, according to records filed with the Secretary of State's office.

Last week alone, the Republican governor held five fundraisers, including two on Friday in the Central Valley, two in Los Angeles and one in suburban Sacramento. He has scheduled at least 22 such events this month.

"This is exactly the kind of practice he said he was going to Sacramento to end," said Angelides consultant Bill Carrick.

No wonder Schwarzenegger doesn't support Prop 89, he is doing just fine with the current system. So are the lobbyists.

Fight Corruption

Mike Kirchubel says:

Almost all voters, regardless of party affiliation, agree that there is entirely too much greed and corruption in Sacramento and Washington these days. Most of us are just plain disgusted. Granted, politicians need money for their signs, ads, and commercials in order to be elected or re-elected; unfortunately, today’s high-stakes Pay-to-Play is completely dominated by corporate lobbyists. We ordinary folks have been priced out of the access game. Furthermore, these lobbyists have vastly different agendas than you or I. While we spend our days working for our dollars, they spend theirs dreaming up novel ways to snatch those dollars from us. To them, politicians are simply highly paid employees facilitating the exchange. We should make politicians cover their expensive suits with sponsor patches, like NASCAR drivers, so we can all tell where their loyalties truly lie.

If you’ve ever thought, “There must be a better way;” wondered why corporations with billions in profits legally pay less in taxes than you; or swore you would “never vote for those crooks ever again;” rejoice! Proposition 89, the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, is coming soon to a ballot near you. If we all work hard and get this passed in November, Prop 89 will allow candidates to remain “Clean” with public financing for their campaigns. Our representatives would actually represent us, not the special interest lobbyists. Imagine, taxation WITH representation. What a revolutionary concept! Yes on 89.

There is a better way. Clean money elections are working in Maine, they are working in Arizona, and with your support this November we can have fair elections in California.

Consumer Federation of California and Proposition 89

Richard Holober, Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of California, has a great column in the California Progress Report:

Proposition 89: Take the "For Sale" sign off the State Capitol

Since 2004, Chevron gave $3 million in political contributions in California. For a company that made a record $14 billion in profits last year, it was money well spent. Despite public indignation, big oil crushed a proposed state tax on windfall oil profits.

During one 18-month period, banks, insurance companies and other financial interests contributed $8.8 million to state politicians. They defeated financial privacy legislation that enjoyed the support of 90% of California voters.

Phone companies gave $20 million to the governor and Sacramento candidates since 2000. Their generosity bought them new Public Utilities Commissioners, which promptly buried telephone consumer protection regulations just after being adopted by their predecessors.

Our campaign finance system has produced the best government that money can buy. [...]

This November, we can take the “For Sale” sign off the state Capitol. The Consumer Federation of California supports Proposition 89, the Clean Money Initiative, because we must change the rules of politics before ordinary Californians will have a chance to put our interests on an even footing with big corporate donors.

Prop 89 would create a Clean Money Election system similar to the ones that now exist in Arizona, Connecticut and Maine.

Please, go read the whole story.

Question of the Day

Mark Matthews of ABC 7 points out:

After we did a piece on Proposition 89, Bob in Guerneville e-mailed to tell me about something he saw on the No on 89 Web site.

Now this is the proposition that wants to take the money out of politics by publicly funding elections. And the Chamber of Commerce, business groups and the Teachers Union are fighting it. Obviously they are also big donors to political candidates.

So Bob is reading the No on 89 arguments on their Web site and he comes across this: "The measure also prohibits state contractors or anyone seeking state contracts from contributing to any candidate for or holder of an office with which the contractor has or seeks a contract."

And he wonders why the No on 89 folks would put this forward as an argument. I mean, if you have a contract or if you are seeking a contract isn't it a little unethical to be offering money to the candidate or office holder who has control of that contract?

Good question Bob.

Indeed.

Proposition 89

Featured Letter to the Editor

San Rafael's Dan Farthing in the Marin Independent Journal:

Prop. 89 will clean up politics

The IJ's "Fill-up of the future" article (Aug. 25) was encouraging indeed; imagine what biodiesel could do if it were available cheaply and used throughout Marin and elsewhere. Less foreign oil, clean air, invigorated regional agriculture.

But with special interest groups and their lobbyists controlling Sacramento, biodiesel and similar issues aren't likely to get much support without the passage of Proposition 89 on Nov. 7.

Proposition 89 would provide optional public financing of campaigns for any legislative candidate, who then, if elected, would not be under the influence of campaign contributors. Legislators could then vote according to their own consciences for such worthwhile projects as biodiesel, other alternative fuels, and universal health care.

This "clean money" system works in Arizona, where the governor and most other statewide elected officials were elected with clean money under a similar law.

Let's vote "yes" on Proposition 89 for good government, with legislators accountable only to the voters.

On issue after issue, it is the big money special interests blocking reform. Ending the auction in Sacramento is the first step towards sound policy for California.

Quote of the Day

"One of the reasons that people don't vote is they think the big-moneyed interests run everything anyway, so what's the point?"

- Debra Bowen, State Senator and candidate for Secretary of State
on one reason why she supports Proposition 89

Make Elections About Voters

While not specific to California's Proposition 89, Patrick Bosold lays out a solid case for clean money campaigns in the Des Moines Register:

Clean elections make elections about voters, not campaign donors. Candidates can spend their time talking to constituents instead of spending countless hours wooing major donors. Once in office, clean-elections officials are no longer beholden to special interests and lobbyists.

Candidates who participate in clean elections are supported by voters. In Maine, 83 percent of the state Senate and 77 percent of the state House is made up of legislators who ran as clean-elections candidates. In Arizona, 10 out of 11 statewide offices are held by clean-elections candidates.

I'm very concerned about the role of money in politics and the scandals in Washington. The best way to make elections fair and to restore accountability to people is to implement public financing of elections.

Mr. Bosold isn't the only voter who is concerned about the role of big money in politics. We need reform.

Universal Health Care - By the Numbers

With the news that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto universal health care, let's take a look at the numbers:

6,000,000	-	Uninsured Californians the bill would have covered
8,000,000	-	Dollars the bill would have saved annually
4,000,000	-	Dollars opponents contributed to Schwarzenegger

"Schwarzenegger's announcement shows he has listened to the big donors who have put millions into his campaign coffers, not to the people worried about health care costs and the rising number of uninsured workers."

- Jerry Flanagan, health policy director of the FTCR