Don't Stand for This!

This week the County Council cut $1.25M from the Public Campaign Financing Fund. It virtually eliminates the possibility of the fund being used by candidates who might challenge them in the upcoming elections.

This will have a chilling effect on the use of this new program. It gives more power to the large donors that currently dominate our elections, and will serve to lessen the impact of your voices in our political system.

One candidate is using the system to run for County Executive, pledging to utilize the Public Campaign Financing Fund to remove big-money interests from our politics; what's left will be too little for anyone else to use the fund, especially candidates who might challenge the sitting Council.

Why this matters: The Council established a bipartisan commission to recommend funding levels specifically to avoid conflicts of interest during an election year. By disregarding the commission’s recommendation and bypassing the process outlined in law, the Council has undermined the very structure it created. This decision sends a chilling message to potential candidates. It discourages participation, weakens public trust, and sabotages a program the Council itself passed just two years ago.

Buying back our democracy from the developers and other corporate interests who pull all the strings should be among the very first things we budget for, not the last. This vote makes clear whose side the Council is on. And it is not the side of an open, transparent, citizen funded campaign, siding instead for the large scale donors and development interests.

WE SHOULD NOT STAND FOR THIS. Contact your council member, or better yet, all of them at https://www.growthaction.net/council