Government

Have you signed the Initiative 70 petition? Pledge today

by David Alpert   •   June 15, 2012 12:26 pm

Have you signed the petitions for Initiative 70, which would ban corporate contributions to political campaigns? If not, and you are a registered DC voter, please make a pledge below to sign, then find a DC Public Trust volunteer at of the many opportunities this weekend at neighborhood events and farmers markets.

Photo by Ken Archer.

If you pledge, we'll let you when and where there's a location near you to sign the petition.

It's not easy to get an initiative on the ballot in DC. That's not necessarily a bad thing—anyone who's lived in California can tell you—but if Initiative 70 is going to get on the ballot, we need your signature.

The organizers and volunteers have to get the signatures of 5% of DC registered voters, including 5% in at least 5 of the 8 wards, on physical petition sheets. One person circulating the petition has to physically witness your signature. There are also only a few weeks left to get over the threshold, and every signature counts.

This weekend, volunteers will be collecting petitions at these locations. More may be added as well, so sign the pledge so we can tell you if there's a new location near you.

Saturday, June 16:

• DC Solar Flare, Woodson High School in Ward 7, 9 am-4:30 pm
  
• Tour de Fat, Yards Park in Near Southeast, 9 am-4 pm
  
• One City Summer Kickoff, Banneker Rec Center in Columbia Heights, 2 pm-6 pm

Sunday, June 17:

• Bloomingdale Farmers Market, First and R NW, 9 am-1 pm
  
• Dupont Circle Farmers Market, 9 am-1 pm
  
• Takoma Farmers Market, 10 am-2 pm

Initiative 70 doesn't ban anything that's not already illegal under federal law and in 22 states. DC's law allows those who have several different LLCs or other incorporated businesses, like infamous contractor Jeffrey Thompson, to circumvent the usual campaign finance limits by donating the maximum amount from each different business. This also obscures the source of campaign cash to everyone except the candidate, who knows full well the person they owe for the cash.

Want to do more? There are lots of community events that need volunteers to collect signatures, or you can even just get a petition to bring to a party or other event and get signatures from people you know. Sign up to volunteer today!

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.