Comments on Help clean up DC politics this weekend and this month - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by The Civic Center

Thu, 31 May 2012 23:59:20 EDT

Thank you, Elissa, for your efforts to advance Initiative 70 and for posting this call to action.

I did sign the petition simply because I want the initiative on the ballot. However, when I first read about it in the Northwest Current, I formed objections to some provisions of it, but I can't remember what they were.

Initiatives seem to be the most politically feasible way to institute reforms such as campaign finance restrictions, elected D.C. representatives to the WMATA board, merit pay for the Council, and a ban on all forms of corporate welfare.

Comment by John

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:47:21 EDT

@samuelmoore Nope. Single proprietors can still donate as the single proprietor. Only incorporated entities would be impacted.

Also, I had an LLC. It most certainly is a corporate entity at the Federal level, with it's own rules of governance and taxation. In many ways similar to a pass through variant of an S-Corp, hybrid with an LLP.

Comment by Elissa Silverman

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:57:43 EDT

@samuelmoore when we collect signatures together, you can hold me accountable for saying businesses. i look forward to working together! thanks.

Comment by @SamuelMoore

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:55:46 EDT

Stop saying corporations when you just mean businesses...

Comment by Elissa Silverman

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:44:43 EDT

Hi hogwash,
This is the same effort that Bryan Weaver initiated a few months ago. It takes a while to collect 23,000 signatures.

And on the issue of unions: Unions have played by the rules and contributed to the individual contribution limit. They have not tried to give more directly. Of course, they do make indirect contributions, by canvassing and such. That is why unions are not included.

Thanks everyone for the great commentary. I'm still looking for some great emails to help us get this on the ballot! gmail has no limits, remember!!

Comment by David

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:27:35 EDT

@Hogwash, I seem to remember something similar, along the lines of unions don't usually do it so we won't include them. I don't know how well that works logically (will they begin to do this more if they have an advantage over businesses who won't be able to?), but it could also simply be a political decision to try to garner union support.

Comment by Gavin

Thu, 31 May 2012 15:42:01 EDT

I volunteered to collect signatures, and they provided a fact sheet that addresses the question of unions. Essentially, the argument is that unions aren't the problem in DC politics today, it's sketchy corporations.

Overall, I think the idea behind Initiative 70 is to do something straightforward to reduce the problem of money in politics. It's not a comprehensive reform package -- it's hard to put that on a ballot. In my opinion, we strongly need to pass Initiative 70 (please sign if you haven't!), and then we need to keep going and fix some of the other problems.

Comment by HogWash

Thu, 31 May 2012 15:40:58 EDT

@Selxic, oh ok. I likely just overlooked it.

@Keith,Sam,David, I could be wrong but I thought the last time we had this discussion here about a similar initiative, that the reason why unions aren't seen in the same light as these corporate bundlers. I believe it had something to do w/the percentages (small) unions give to local elections and if they do, it's usually one lump sum payment. There's also something about how the unions don't take advantage of the loopholes that corporations do.

Obviously, I could have this all screwed up but I think I remember this.

Comment by david

Thu, 31 May 2012 14:44:25 EDT

Keith, I believe the initiative does NOT ban unions from contributing directly. See section 2 at the link on my name. I believe this is a weakness of the initiative. I'm a supporter of unions generally but it makes the initiative seem more partisan then it should, perhaps losing a critical segment of potential support. I still want to see it on the ballot though.

Comment by @SamuelMoore

Thu, 31 May 2012 14:25:21 EDT

Why doesn't this ban direct contributions from unions?

You mention corporate money, then talk about LLCs, they're not the same... an LLC is simply a state-level business designation, it has nothing to do whether a business is incorporated or not.

Comment by keithdcil

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:56:29 EDT

Does this initiative also ban unions from contributing to compaigns?

Comment by selxic

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:47:14 EDT

I just noticed report today or yesterday (it has been a long week), but I don't believe link is new. It's just a permalink or a link directly to the comment.

Comment by Tom A.

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:46:37 EDT

I guess I'm jaded, but until the likes of Marion Berry are out of office, I will expect corrupt politics to remain in DC, regardless of this effort.

Comment by bmv818

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:07:56 EDT

@ Ben - lets see how the Montana ban on corp cash plays out. In other areas addressing campaign finance issues, specifically, bans on "pay-to-play ", restrictions have been upheld where the restriction was in response to local/state bouts of corruption.

Comment by HogWash

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:06:57 EDT

Oh wow! How did I miss this. There's now a report button on GGW!

Likely dumb question but is the link button to be used for linking to another site or something...saving the need to do html tags?

Comment by HogWash

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:02:28 EDT

I thought we already did a similar drive for this not too long ago. Or am I confusing this effort w/something else. Or maybe several people are starting their own various drives for the same?

Either way, it's a good thing although I do not buy into the notion that money has "corrosively" influenced DC politics nor that the recent incidents suggests that we can't govern ourselves. DC is like any other city w/humans living there. Harry Thomas and Jeffrey Thompson are the exceptions, certainly not the rule. We would all live better (and be less stressed) if we are honest about that.

Comment by Elissa Silverman

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:58:37 EDT

signmeup and anyone else interested in volunteering: feel free to send me an email, elissa.silverman@gmail.com, and i will put you to work, i promise! thanks so much and look forward to your email, signmeup!

Comment by Sign Me Up

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:55:49 EDT

Are there any other dates to sign if this weekend doesn't work for people?

Comment by Elissa Silverman

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:55:29 EDT

Hi busgirl1, I will ask our Ward 1 coordinators to try to cover. We will be at the Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, and U Street markets this weekend. If you can help us collect at Adams Morgan please send me an email and I will put you in touch with our great Ward 1 coordinators.

And Ben, it is constitutional. Citizens United addressed INDIRECT contributions, like PACs and 527s. Initiative 70 impacts DIRECT contributions. Right now, DC local law differs from federal law and about half the states that ban direct business and corporate contributions to candidates.

Comment by Ben

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:48:24 EDT

Is it constitutional? Citizens United seems to have raised the difficulty level of making initiatives like this stand up in court.

Comment by busgirl1

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:44:40 EDT

Can you have someone at the Adams Morgan farmers' market Saturday morning?