Clean Money, Clean Elections

A new paradigm in campaign finance

Part 5: How to implement Clean Money, Clean Elections in New York City

CMCE was first implemented by referendum in Maine in 1996. Four years later, Arizona followed suit. Last year, Connecticut became the first state to implement CMCE by legislation; the new system takes effect with the 2008 election cycle.

Several organizations, primarily Citizen Action New York, are leading the fight to implement CMCE in New York State. Governor David Paterson actually sponsored CMCE legislation when he was in the State Senate.

Meanwhile, there may be a window of opportunity to implement CMCE in New York City.

In 2009, two-thirds of City Council members will be term-limited. Many of them will either choose to retire from elected office, or run for another office and lose. This means that they don't need to deal with special interests, particularly those special interests that get what they want by making large campaign donations.

Additionally, most City Council members want to extend (or even eliminate) term limits. The current public attitude toward term limits is such that the City Council is extremely unlikely to be able to change the current law, unless ...

The best option for extending term limits is to take dramatic action to lower the barrier to entry - level the playing field so that challengers have a real chance of defeating incumbents. CMCE goes a long way toward accomplishing this goal. Once CMCE is in place, the City Council will then have more freedom to take up the question of term limits.

Finally, there is a bill in Congress (HR3099) whose cosponsors include several New York City representatives. Their offices can be called on to help the local push.

It won't be an easy sell. The perception that New York City has "the best public funding system in the country" is pervasive. Elected officials will argue that they already give opponents a lot of advantages. Additionally, some alterations may be needed in state election law in order to allow for earlier petitioning.

The truth is that New York City no longer has "the best public funding system in the country", since three states and one major municipality have fully enacted CMCE. Additionally, experience shows that incumbents' opponents really have few, if any, advantages; the only City Council member who was defeated in a re-election bid, Alan Jennings, was embroiled in scandal, and was defeated by a former City Council member. Finally, since the alterations that may be needed in state election law only affect New York City, it shouldn't be the toughest obstacle to overcome.

CMCE can be brought to New York City. Once established here, pushing CMCE through at the state level becomes significantly easier. After that, who knows how far it can go?

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