The Sunnyvale Sun
News
Campaign finance measure won't be on the ballot
By Cody Kraatz
The Sunnyvale City Council has pushed a proposed ballot measure asking residents if they would support publicly financed elections to far beyond the upcoming city council election in November.
The council on July 10 voted to appoint a subcommittee of council members in January, when none will be up for re-election.
"We need to do this right, and we need to do this right once," said Councilman Dean Chu, who is up for re-election in November. The city would be the first in California to do this and would join Albuquerque, N.M., Portland, Ore., and several states.
The proposed measure read, "Should the city of Sunnyvale institute public financing of Sunnyvale city elections to be funded by either new taxes or a reduction in public services, at an approximate cost of $100,000 per contested council seat?"
Some residents and proponents of public financing said it was heavy on the costs, estimated at $400,000 to $1 million every other year with four seats open and two candidates each, and light on the benefits.
"I support public financing of campaigns. I would vote against the wording you have here," said Norine Krueger, a Sunnyvale resident.
A subcommittee of councilmen Christopher Moylan and John Howe and Vice Mayor Tony Spitaleri crafted the measure because they are not up for re-election. Howe and Spitaleri had opposed the advisory measure in an earlier vote, and Moylan said he was outnumbered.
"It appears to deliberately skew it for defeat," said Moylan, who apologized for not getting stronger language into the measure.
The proposed advisory measure would not require any council action. Some said a survey would be cheaper and would give the council more useful data than a yes-or-no question. Printing the measure would have cost $37,000.
Public financing activist Herb Angstrom twisted the measure to make a point, adding his wording was not a serious proposal.
"Should the city council eliminate the influence of private interests by publicly financing elections at a cost of .2 percent of the city's annual budget?" he said. Portland allocates that percentage to elections.
Councilwoman Melinda Hamilton said the subcommittee should report back to the council in January 2009 after meeting with residents, opponents and proponents of public financing. Council members Hamilton, Ron Swegles, Chu and Mayor Otto Lee are up for re-election, so the council's composition could change by then.
"I'm worried it will get lost in the shuffle," said Hamilton.
Max King, a public financing advocate, said the public is not familiar with the concept or how it could work, and the city should inform people as it moves forward.
"It's not something you learn about in civics class in high school," he said. The council suggested that the subcommittee's outreach next year include public education.
Also to educate the public, the council approved the creation of a campaign ethics brochure. When published in the Oct. 1 issue of city's Quarterly Report, it would draw the line between fair and dirty public debate, explain the debate format and schedule that the council will set, list resources for election information and help residents get registered to vote.
Modeled on similar brochures produced by the cities of Santa Clara and Livermore, the city estimates it will cost $3,500 in materials and staff time for an insert in the quarterly report and 1,500 separate copies, plus translation costs of $500 per double-sided sheet of paper.
