March 2023

Clean Elections San Diego

Update
3/16/22

“If anyone should own our politicians, it should be we, the people”
—  Bill Moyers – American Journalist
.
Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well with you.  We are still working on reviewing the language of our clean elections measure which might take us some time.  If you are interested in helping with this, please let me know.
.
What can you do?
You can help in a couple of different ways.  First, you can talk to a friend or neighbor about the benefits of clean elections and invite them to our web page:clean electionssandiego.org to read about our history, our endorsements and to watch the 7 minute video “Road to Clean Elections”, created and narrated by Bill Moyers. And if you are a member of an organization, we are always willing to come and make a presentation on clean elections.  Just let us know.
.
You can also join me for coffee on Saturday, March 25, at 10 AM at Le Stats coffee house on Park Blvd, 4496 Park Blvd where you can bring up your questions or suggestions or just join me for coffee.
.
John Hartley: Coordinator, Clean Elections San Diego
619-299-8870

February 2023

Clean Elections San Diego
Update
2/13/23
.
Hi Everyone,
Work on our Clean Elections campaign is moving along smoothly. Our goal is still to put our clean elections measure on the 2024 ballot. Right now we are working with the groups, Clean Elections Arizona and Clean Elections Maine, to see how they have protected public funds with their clean elections programs.  They both have had clean elections since 2000.
.
If you would like to be part of this discussion, please let me know.
.
I also wanted to remind you to watch “Road to Clean Elections” if you haven’t already seen it or if you just want to refresh yourself on the history and the huge impact of clean elections Arizona and Maine. It is only 7 minutes long and it is on the front page of our web page: cleanelectionssandiego.org.
.
And lastly, I want to invite you to join me for coffee on Saturday, February 25, at 10 AM at Le Stats on Park Blvd, 4496 Park Blvd. Bring your questions, suggestions or just join me for coffee.
.
John Hartley: Coordinator, Clean Elections San Diego
619-299-8870

January 2023

Clean Elections San Diego.
Campaign Update.
1/10/23
Happy New Years Everyone,
2023 is going to be a great year! You heard it from me!  Our campaign for clean elections has been a long one but I remind you that women did not get a chance to vote until 1920!
The key is to never give up!.
We came within one vote by the San Diego City Council, to put clean elections on the ballot in 2020 and we are encouraged by the support we have now received from individual council members, in our goal to target the 2024 presidential election..
This month we have included a terrific commentary written by our chair, Mark Linsky, that was printed in the
Times of San Diego, on why “It’s Time for Clean, Publicly Funded Local Elections in San Diego.”   Please give it a read..
Also, check out our web page at cleanelections.org and, as usual, if you have any questions or suggestions on our campaign,  please contact our campaign coordinator, John Hartley, at 619-299-8870 or hartey2k@aol.com.

December 2022

Clean Elections San Diego
.
Campaign Update
.
12/6/2022
Hi Everyone,
.
First, we wish you the best over the upcoming holidays. Enjoy yourself! You deserve it!  And second, we thank you for your ongoing support for clean elections for San Diego. We were close in 2020 and we plan on winning in 2024!
.
 We had another letter to the editor printed in the Union/Tribune recently, and if you haven’t already sent in a letter, we urge you to write one and to refer to that letter.  Share why you support campaign finance reform and why, in your opinion,  we need clean elections.
.
Here is our latest article printed in the U/T
.
12/2/22.
To: San Diego Union Tribune Letters to the Editor
.
You published a recent letter regarding campaign finance reform.  Having just finished the recent election cycle I would like to agree that campaign financing is a major issue.  The amount of money needed to fund campaigns keeps growing.  With that growth, the power of wealthy individuals, corporations and organizations grows.  An example is the problem of climate change.  Scientists have known since the 70s that increasing CO2 emissions are a serious problem.  We have the technology to produce electricity by means other than burning fossil fuels, yet CO2 emissions continue to increase every year.  The wealth and political power of the fossil fuel industry is the major reason we can do so little to combat climate change.  Changing the way we finance election campaigns is the only way to reduce the political power of wealth.
Mark Spitzer  
North Park
.
Directions on sending in a letter to the editor of the U/T
 
Include your full name, community of residence and phone number.  (The number is not printed.) Email your letter to letters@utsandiego.com
.
Thank you!
Thanks again for your help and support for clean elections.  See you next year!  We urge you to check out our web page at: CleanElectionsSanDiego.org where you can both, read about the history of the San Diego campaign for clean elections,  and check out the the powerful, 7 minute video, entitled Road to Clean Elections, narrated by celebrated journalist and philosopher, Bill Moyers 
.
Lastly, if you have a question or a suggestion, contact John Hartley, Clean Elections campaign coordinator at 619-299-8870 or hartley2k@aol.com
.
Clean Elections San Diego

November 2022

Clean Elections San Diego
.
Clean Elections Update
.
11/14/22
Hi Everyone,
.
We have suddenly been given a great opportunity.  A letter to the editor on the need for campaign finance reform was published in the U/T on November 4. Our opportunity is to have more letters to the editor printed in the U/T which agrees with the need for campaign finance reform
.
The original letter is printed below.  It is entitled: Campaign finance reform is needed.
.
 So, to move our campaign for clean elections forward, could you send in a letter to the U/T?
It is easy to submit a letter.  It is best to refer to the original letter,  and share why you support campaign finance reform? The more letters on a topic, the more likely the UT will print them, so If you don’t have much time, just jot down some of your thoughts and send it in.  And if you want to write out a well thought out and written letter, great.  The U/T will decide which letters to print.
.
The U/T wants your letter to to include your name, community of residence and a phone number.  They do not publish the phone number.  They need it to call you if they decide to print your letter.   Send your letter to letters@sduniontribune.com
.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at 619-299-8870 or hartley2k@aol.com
John Hartley, Clean Elections San Diego
.

Campaign finance reform is much needed

Re “Midterm political spending shatters records” (Nov.4): This article clearly shows the need for campaign finance reform.  All that excessive spending on political ads perpetuates the U.S. wealth gap. Billionaires donate to Republican candidates because their policies reduce taxes on the rich and reduce regulations on the billionaires’ businesses.  How does benefit the ordinary American? It does not.
.
We need government to keep us safe from pollution, unfair business practices that squash the little guy, discrimination of many kinds and crime.  How much more housing would that $16.7 billion buy? How much better could the education system be with more funding?  We could make strides in lessening the effects of climate change.
.
Please, let’s not let money buy elections.
.
Sandy McMullen
Carlsbad
Check out our web page at CleanElectionsSanDiego.org

October 2022

Clean Elections Update
.
10/27/22
Hi Everyone,
.
How are you?  I don’t have to remind you that the 2022 election is two weeks away.  Please vote.  If you need help in registering
(you still have time) or in voting, please let me know.
.
As we prepare for the holidays, we thought we might share with you how the Clean Elections for San Diego campaign began and where we are today. Here is an article about the history of the Clean Elections for the City of San Diego campaign,  that will soon be on our web page.  We also invite you to visit our web page: CleanElectionsSanDiego.org and let us know what you think.  If you have any suggestions on the web page, please let us know.
.
And we have included a message from Derek Casady on why he supports Clean Elections.   We would also like to give you a chance to share why you support clean elections. Send your article to our Clean Elections campaign coordinator, John Hartley, at hartley2k@aol.com and if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the campaign, send those in also, or call John at 619-299-8870.

History of the Clean Elections campaign for the City of San Diego
.
The history of campaign finance reform for San Diego has been a long and tortuous one. The initial interest in the use of public funding for San Diego city elections by the use of Clean Elections, was initiated in 2000 when a local activist from La Jolla, Francoise Farron called a group together to work on Clean Elections for San Diego.
.
Francoise Farron subscribed to the liberal Nation magazine and she got a list of her local subscribers for this meeting. Interesting, one of the original attendees was Derek Casady who is still highly active in the La Jolla community today and he is still a friend of clean elections for San Diego.
.
Under Francoise’s leadership, the Alliance for Clean Elections was formed and the Alliance attempted to get a Clean Elections citizen initiative on the ballot in 2002 and 2003. Neither campaign was successful due to the high number of signatures needed to get a citizen initiative on the ballot. In the city of San Diego, any citizen initiative needs 10% of registered voters to qualify for the ballot. These dedicated volunteers were motivated but they just did not have the resources, a sufficient number of volunteers and funding,  to achieve their goal.
.
In 2005, a new group called Neighborhoods for Clean Elections initiated a long term effort to build awareness and support for clean elections. In 2016, they again attempted to get a clean elections initiative on the ballot through the petition process. But even with more group and neighborhood endorsements and many more supporters, this attempt to get a clean elections measure on the ballot was also deemed to fail due to the high amount of signatures needed to get on the ballot. The campaign still did not have sufficient resources, volunteers and funding, to be successful.  By this time, the number of registered voters in the city of San Diego was over 800,000 and 10% of that, 80,000 signatures was just too high a bar to achieve.

.
After a year of disappointment, the campaign for clean elections started anew. It was deemed too important to put aside and the campaign was restarted with a goal to see if the San Diego City Council might put clean elections on the ballot instead of trying to go the citizen initiative route.

.
The campaign started meeting with San Diego city council members and their staff. The meetings went well and it looked like we had sufficient support of the city council to put clean elections on the ballot.  In 2019, we went before the full city council and to our surprise, two council members changed their minds at the last moment and while we got the support of four council members,  we needed five votes to be successful.

.
Obviously, we were disappointed, but after another year of reflection, we again realized that clean elections was too important in reforming local politics and with the amount of support that we had built for clean elections,  we had to continue to fight for clean elections by targeting the 2024 presidential year election.  We again began a new series of meeting with both old supporters on the city council and the new council members as well as reaching out to more neighborhoods and groups for support for clean elections.
.
This is where we are today.  After a series of positive meetings with San Diego’s city council members and their staff, we feel that we have their support to put a city-sponsored Clean Elections measure on the ballot in 2024.

.
For more information on the clean elections campaign or if you want to help in any way, contact the campaign coordinator, John Hartley at 619-299-8870 or hartley2k@aol.com
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
From Derek Casady, president, La Jolla Democratic Club,  organizer of San Diego Climate Mobilization Coalition
.
I support Clean Elections because they give everyday people a voice in City Council, Mayoral and City Attorney Elections in
San Diego.
.
Under Clean Elections, a person who wants to run, say, for San Diego City Council, can go out and collect 500 five dollar contributions from friends and friends of friends, turn the money into City Hall and receive public funds sufficient to conduct a viable election.
.
Under such a system, candidates who are publicly funded, if they are elected, owe their success to taxpayers, not special interest groups like developers  Also publicly funded candidates do not have to spend so much time “dialing for dollars” hour after hour, day after day. The result is that publicly funded candidates have more time to spend with constituents.

.
Also, Public funding of candidates gives neighborhood a stronger voice in elections because neighborhoods can sponsor candidates by helping raise the 500 qualifying contributions that result in public funding of neighborhood-sponsored candidates.

.
All in all, public funding of candidates makes for a stronger Democracy and breaks up the strangle hold that private money now exerts over our political system.
.
Clean Elections San Diego