DEMOCRACY
Yesterday the Seattle City Council put public financing plan on the November ballot.
This is Step One on an effort to make the City Council a more democratic (small d) body.
Currently, candidates need to raise about $250,000. In effect. a new person running for Council needs to get the downtown merchants to underwrite the campaign, or the unions will do it, or the wanna be solon needs to be very well off or have well off friends. Under the proposal, a candidate would need to raise $10 or more from at least 600 Seattle voters. A lot of small scale activists can do that. For example, this is easily within the scope of a writer at the Stranger (hint to David Goldstein!) . Donations of up to $50 would be matched — on a six-to-one basis — up to the first $35,000 raised. AGAIN WITHIN THE REACH OF MANY ACTIVISTS.
If voters approve, taxpayer financed Council elections would begin in 2015. CIn order to qualify for public funding, a candidate would need to raise $10 or more from at least 600 Seattle voters. Donations of up to $50 would be matched — on a six-to-one basis — up to the first $35,000 raised. Elections would be capped at $240,000.
Step Two addressees the divers regions of the city. Voters will, this fall, get a chance to replace at-large elections and elect 7 of 9 Council members by district. Each Council candidate would have to court a constituency of fewer than 90,000 citizens, rather than an entire city. Two Council members would still be elected at-large.