Yes on 89: Give regular voters a stronger voice
By Ned Wigglesworth
Fed up with the role campaign contributions play in
politics? Does it feel as if the Legislature represents
special interests instead of its constituents? Wonder why
California government can't get its act together to address
our crumbling levees, underperforming schools or
skyrocketing health costs? Proposition 89 offers voters a
golden opportunity to take back government from the special
interests and lobbyists and stop political corruption in
the Capitol. Not even the opposition denies the problem:
Campaign money has conquered California government.
Cash-rich gaming tribes, a few big labor unions, developers
and big corporate interests such as oil and pharmaceutical
companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year
to elect their favored candidates and push their political
agendas, all at the expense of the consumers,
small-business owners and middle-class families of
California. In return for their investment, these special
interests get tax breaks, sweetheart contracts and
favorable legislation worth billions of dollars. Meanwhile,
nothing is done to limit skyrocketing health insurance
costs, to improve the quality of our schools or to help
solve the other challenges facing California. Crafted
carefully by some of the foremost constitution and
election-law experts in California, Proposition 89 would
attack the problem head-on with strict new limits on
political contributions to candidates, parties and
so-called independent committees operated by corporations,
unions, gaming tribes and trial lawyers alike. Lobbyists
and state contractors would be barred from making
contributions. The measure also would offer limited public
funds to qualifying candidates who want to serve their
constituents free from obligation to private donors. And
there is tough disclosure and enforcement language to make
sure participants play by the rules. The result of the
measure would be incredibly positive for all but a handful
of the biggest political spenders in California. Regular
people would have a bigger voice in the decisions and
priorities of state government. Candidates would be judged
on the strength of their ideas, not the size of their
campaign accounts. Elected officials could be held
accountable when placing the demands of their wealthy
donors over the needs of their constituents. In short,
government in California could actually work again, which
is why the League of Women Voters of California, California
Common Cause and the California Clean Money Campaign all
have endorsed the measure. The list of Proposition 89
opponents reads like a Who's Who of special interests in
California. Insurance companies, developers, lobbyists and
the biggest labor union in the state have ganged up to
defeat the measure. They likely will spend millions in
their effort to derail reform. The price tag on Proposition
89's publicly funded elections would be $200 million
overall funded by a 0.2 percent corporate tax increase that
would fall primarily on the wealthiest corporations in the
state. This is a drop in the bucket compared to what
special interests make in tax loopholes, sweetheart
contracts and favorable legislation. That is why they spend
hundreds of millions of dollars each year in lobbying and
other political spending. From the cost-benefit perspective
of the average voter, this one's a no-brainer: Ending the
corrupt status quo would save taxpayers money. In the end,
Proposition 89 boils down to this: Should special interests
own the Legislature or should the people of California? If
your answer is the people of California, vote Yes on
Proposition 89.
See the article on Sacramento Bee website