This Is a Stickup I’m Running For Office – Give Me Your Money

Today the Assembly passed an “intent” version of Assemblywoman Loni Hancock’s taxpayer funded political campaigns bill, AB 583. The bill was stripped down to state the “intent” of the Legislature and then moved to the Senate by a vote of 47-31.

Rules, We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules
The reason the bill was stripped down to “intent” language was to remove the appropriation necessary to give taxpayer dollars to political candidates and to make the bill no longer an actual amendment to the Political Reform Act (PRA). Amendments to the PRA and an appropriation both require a 2/3 vote; a pesky little constitutional problem as Democrats see it. Realizing they couldn’t move AB 583 out of the Assembly before the “two-year bill” deadline (January 31st), Democrats stripped the bill down to “intent” language (thereby removing the appropriation and effectively no longer amending the PRA) allowing the bill to pass by a simple majority vote. The purpose of moving a bill in this fashion is to bypass those pesky rules and that pesky constitution; nobody believes that the bill will not have its’ language restored in the Senate. The bill will die an appropriate death in the upper house, but moving the “intent” language keeps the bill “in play;” so much for following the rules, or at least the spirit of the rules.

Public Financing is a Bad Idea
I commend your attention to two previous posts in this forum: First, Nurses’ Union - A Shameful and Blatant Political Power Grab; and second, Political and Campaign Finance Reform.

I also found the commentary, Soggy Bucks by Jerry Davis at CaliCapia amusing.