"Seattle voters won big tonight. Seattle leads the nation, first on $15/hour and now on campaign finance reform."Much to the detriment of Washington State's biggest corporate donors like Microsoft and Starbucks, and to the chagrin of Seattle's newspaper of record, Seattle voters have elected to have publicly-financed elections, and to severely limit the influence of corporate power on city hall.
© Sightline Institute
The I-122 initiative — also known as "Honest Elections Seattle" — passed with
60 percent of votes cast. The initiative provides $100 in "Democracy Vouchers" for each of Seattle's 400,000-plus registered voters, meaning that ordinary voters can counter corporate influence on elections by up to $40 million in a given cycle. The funding for the vouchers comes from an $8 property tax levied on homes worth $400,000 or more.
But I-122 does more than just provide public campaign financing — I-122 also prohibits corporations that do more than $250,000 in annual business with the city from donating to local political campaigns. It also outright bans all donations from corporations that put more than $5,000 a year into lobbying elected officials.
Comment: The new state of the US...insolvency and trickle down education...apparently it is an arresting idea.