Seattle initiative drive seeks public campaign financing, reform

A group of volunteers and local organizations calling itself Honest Elections Seattle filed a new public campaign-financing and elections-reform effort Friday.

The group, which includes Fuse Washington and Sightline Institute, will begin collecting signatures later this month to put Initiative 122 on Seattle’s November ballot, it said in a news release sent out by Fuse. It will need at least 31,000 signatures.

The initiative, if approved, would direct the city to use public funds to give every voter four $25 “Democracy Vouchers” to donate “to the qualified candidates of their choice” running in Seattle elections, according to the release.

The approach would differ from the most typical model for public financing of campaigns, in which the public provides matching funds to candidates who adhere to certain guidelines.

The initiative would also enact a package of elections-reform changes, including, according to the release:

• Lower campaign contribution limits in all city races;

• A ban on contributions from corporations that spend significant funds lobbying the city and from corporations with large city contracts;

• Increased fines and penalties for election law violations;

• Tighter campaign reporting deadlines and increased transparency;

• Spending caps for candidates who participate in the campaign-finance program;

• A requirement that paid signature gatherers disclose their funders;

• A mandated three-year “cooling off” period for top city officials before they can become paid lobbyists with business before the city.

“Our goal is to amplify the voices of ordinary people and limit the power of big money in Seattle elections and city government. This initiative will keep our elected officials accountable to us and keep control of elections in the hands of the voters,” Estevan Munoz-Howard, a volunteer working on the initiative, said in the release.

The Seattle City Council voted in June 2014 not to consider a public campaign-financing bill for the November 2014 ballot.

Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw, Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant joined proponent Mike O’Brien in backing consideration of the proposal, which involved raising taxes. But Council President Tim Burgess said putting it on the ballot could jeopardize other tax measures to fund a prekindergarten program, parks and Metro bus service. Burgess, joined by Councilmembers Jean Godden, Bruce Harrell and Tom Rasmussen, blocked the bill.

Seattle voters in November 2013 rejected a ballot measure that would have used a property-tax levy to provide City Council campaigns with up to $210,000 in matching funds. The council had voted unanimously in June 2013 to put that measure on the ballot and then-Mayor Mike McGinn supported it.