Local Campaign Finance Reform

Community Conversations on Political Reform

Supported partly by a grant from the Governance and Public Policy Program of the Open Society Institute, the National Civic League has spent the last two years working directly with community leaders to catalyze the discussion for local campaign finance reform. Seven communities have been chosen to participate in this project. They are: 1) Alachua County, Florida; 2) Cincinnati, Ohio; 3) Denver, Colorado; 4) Hayward, California; 5) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and 6) Westchester County, New York.

"The National Civic League has always believed that all major social and political reform movements begin at the grassroots level, build momentum, and are eventually codified at the national level," says National Civic League President Christopher T. Gates. "Through their support for this initiative, the Open Society Institute is helping to catalyze the local debate around political reform and direct that debate toward concrete action."

Mark Schmitt, the Open Society Institute's Director for Governance and Public Policy describes OSI reasons for funding the project. "Most people engage in public life at the local level and political reform must begin where people live. For over 100 years the National Civic League has been the best organization working on revitalizing politics on the local level.

Alachua County, Florida

Several months of well-organized grassroots campaigning for reform are beginning to see results. After 68 percent of county residents voted in a non-binding poll in favor of campaign finance reform, the Alachua County Commissioners created a Campaign Finance Review Advisory Board. The new board will consist of citizens that will meet for approximately six months to provide recommendations on local reform to the county commissioners.

On September 22, 2002, the National Civic League co-sponsored “Keeping It Open: A Public Forum on Campaign Finance Reform in Alachua County,” an event which informed the advisory board members and the public at large of the various approaches to reform available to their county. The event, the second one sponsored by NCL in Alachua this year, featured speeches by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales and Dr. David Schultz, director of the Doctoral Program in Public Administration and professor in the Graduate School of Public Administration and Management at Hamline University.

Media Link: "Sun Editorial: Mandate Needed"

Cincinnati, Ohio

After having had a previous campaign finance reform ordinance repealed by city council, Cincinnati’s Fair Elections Coalition achieved victory in this year's election. A charter amendment passed by citizen initiative now requires a comprehensive system of campaign finance in Cincinnati.

Over the last three years, the National Civic League has worked with the coalition by providing educational events, technical support, and facilitation; all aimed at helping the citizens determine the best approach for reform in Cincinnati. This past June, NCL sponsored an educational event for the coalition that featured LeeAnn Pelham, director of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

Media Link: "An Overlooked Achievement in Cincinnati"
Media Link: "Buying Back Council in Cincinnati"
Media Link: "Official Count: Yes on Issue 6"

Denver, Colorado

Ongoing efforts to reform Denver’s campaign finance laws have recently merged with an interest in reforming campaign finance laws at the state level. The National Civic League worked with Colorado Black Women for Political Action, Colorado Common Cause, Colorado Interfaith Alliance, the Colorado Progressive Coalition, and the Denver Section of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., on an educational event that took place in Denver on December 8, 2001. The featured speaker was Stephanie Wilson, Director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project. Founded in 1999, the Fannie Lou Hamer Project aims to create a national grassroots movement to redefine campaign finance as a civil rights issue. The Project works to connect the history of earlier voting and civil rights struggles to the ongoing struggle for human rights, and to create an intergenerational movement that promotes the inclusion of young people as leaders in that effort. The Project also serves as a vehicle for traditional civil rights organizations and communities of color to engage in campaign finance reform initiatives.

Event Link: "Making The Link: Civil Rights and Campaign Finance Reform"
Media Link: "Opening up the system"

Hayward, California

On June 30, 2001, the National Civic League and CA$H (Campaign $olutions for Hayward) sponsored a combined educational and facilitated event in Hayward. The morning event included a welcome by Hayward’s mayor to several state and national experts on campaign finance including: Thomas Volgy, former mayor of Tucson and original author of Tucson’s sixteen-year-old public finance ordinance; LeeAnn Pelham, Executive Director of Los Angeles’ Ethics Commission; Daniel Purnell, Executive Director of Oakland’s Ethics Commission; and Shirley Grindle, a republican activist in Orange County, California. In the afternoon, National Civic League staff facilitated a discussion by the coalition of the problem with money in Hayward elections, underpinning values, and possible solutions.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In an effort to broaden the level of support for reform in Philadelphia, the National Civic League along with Common Cause, hosted an educational event earlier this year in the “City of Brotherly Love.” The event provided an overview of the progress on campaign finance reform in comparable cities and perspectives on how the current chase for campaign dollars was impacting public policy in Philadelphia. The forum helped further energize a movement in Philadelphia to pass contribution limits as a first step towards seeking comprehensive reform. Although a proposal before city council this spring did not pass, a similar proposal is expected to come up again this fall.

Media Link: "Philadelphia might start imposing campaign-spending limits"

Westchester County, New York

On the morning of June 13, 2001, the National Civic League and the Westchester League of Women Voters held an educational event in White Plains, New York entitled “Election Reform: The Interrelated Issues of Campaign Finance and Polling Place Reform.” The event, which received local radio and television coverage, included speakers from the National Civic League, Brennan Center for Justice, Westchester County Board of Legislatures, and Gannett’s “Journal News.” The speakers addressed a variety of issues related to election reform including polling place problems and options for voluntary campaign spending limit programs. Later in the day, several of the speakers were interviewed on an hour-long local radio talk show. Past National Civic League support for reform in Westchester has inspired the passage of some election reform measures, such as a recently passed law requiring computerized financial reporting for campaigns.

Other Communities

Miami-Dade County, Florida

The New Politics Program also made a visit to Miami-Dade County, Florida in January, 2001. The purpose of the visit was to work with a coalition that was working to pass a public financing measure through the county commission. The National Civic League played a small role in providing education about other local campaign finance measures. However, efforts to continue working with this county were discontinued in March, 2001, when Miami-Dade commissioners passed a public financing measure for elections.

« Back