"Clean money" jig may be up
So opine the boys at the Trib:
Fish also has expressed concerns about the wisdom of public campaign financing — as have Commissioners Randy Leonard and Dan Saltzman.With skeptics of public financing now forming a majority on the council, the program faces an even more questionable future when it is referred to the voters in 2010 — as all current and potential future members have promised.
| Posted at 9:23 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (6)
Yeah, it ain't popular with incumbants for some reason... hmmmm.
But in all seriousness, it ain't popular with me either. Between all the races, how much will we be fronting this year? $2 million? More?
Anyone know?
Posted by Deeds | May 22, 2008 12:37 PM
how much are we saving by not having our public servants beholden to individual contributors, is the real question.
Posted by torridjoe | May 22, 2008 2:23 PM
Tj, that line is trite and outdated. We have a better understanding of where the money comes from for each candidate today than at any time in history. And "clean money" is a total joke. How much did we pony up, as taxpayers, for folks who lost while running on our dime - to say nothing of those facing a November runoff? I notice that Merkeley and Novick were able to run good campaigns without dipping into my back pocket. It's really apparent that you don't gravitate much toward thought; you just seem to parrot back the firehouse dogma.
Posted by max | May 22, 2008 3:36 PM
If I added it right, there were six publicly funded candidates to the tune of about nine hundred grand, less their seed money and contributions. Fritz and Lewis will get 200 more apiece for the general.
Based on the vote counts in the Oregonian on Wednesday morning the nine hundred grand worked out to seven dollars and change per vote.
When I ran in 2006 my 13,500 votes cost five and change each.
When Fish starts on the council in June, there might be three votes to kill this program. I think they should.
Posted by Dave Lister | May 22, 2008 4:14 PM
Why not? It was all there to get Sten, Saltzman and Leonard re-elected with a minimum of effort on their parts. Mission accomplished.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 22, 2008 4:16 PM
Boy, that $900K would sure fix a lot of potholes around CoP.
Posted by Gerry Van Zandt | May 22, 2008 9:52 PM