So the 2008 elections are coming now. I said it then and I stick to my word when I say I'm with Sam. All the way back in 2006 Sam was making plans to run for Mayor and now he's doing just that. There is however, something that has changed the way we determine who is winning and who is not. This Grass-roots concept is plain out and outright ludicrous. To say that you have much support in low places is one thing. But there is a sad picture painted on these blades and it's because all the green has to come from the people.
Yes, to start I admit that requiring 1,500 $5 contributions shows plenty of support for a candidate in Portland. However, the purpose of doing this is to next gain access to the publicly financed campaign funds. These funds are supposed to be generated by investments of previous PFC funds. What's the problem you say? How about those numbers don't add up that fast. 1,500 donations of $5 each means that the candidate has now brought $7500 to the table. But for Mayor, in the general election, the candidate now qualifies for $250,000 dollars in PFC funds.
So where does the money come from? Well, see now in Section 2.10.040 A. of Portland city code it states that "The financing system shall limit annual impact on City funds to two tenths of one percent without raising any new taxes or fees" if the PFC funds are found to be inadequate.
That's outrageous! The 2007-2008 City Budget is $3,046,938,195. That allocates up to $6,093,876.39 for PFC funds. So in plain and simple terms, we, the tax payers are first paying to put candidates on the ballot, then paying for all of their advertisements, employees, and other expenses. Then if they are elected we pay them to do their job in office as well.
But wait, it gets just a little more ridiculous before it stops, not only can candidates use their PFC funds to pay for food, clothing, and other normal day to day things like movies and blazers tickets. But also... they can pay off their debt with the funds. Isn't that great?!
I'll get back to this later, once I've calmed down. The links to the documents used to obtain suck info are here.
Publicaly Financed Campaign Fund City Code:
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=39058#cid_161726
2007 - 2008 City Budget:
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=chedi&a=bgcbae
This entire post was sparked by the short article in the Portland Tribune found here:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=120181808289260400
Monday, February 4, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)