How did that happen? Did 6 somebody conspire to do that? Were they really 7 trying to do him in and steal votes from him? 8 No. It's what we call "the duh factor," okay, and 9 all this (unintelligible), it's always there, it 10 was there in this election. Where is my polling place? I mean, half of these people who had problems with motor voter actually had problems knowing where their polling place was.
But you're not putting on the record that there is already some known problems with the machines, that's all I'm asking you.
Thank you. Any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Andrew Altman? Is Andrew Altman here? (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Mr. Altman had to leave, and I was asked to read his testimony. I'm reading his opinions on this, not my own. This is -- okay. Hello, my name is Andrew Altman. I am Secretary of the Board of 120 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 Directors of Liberty City Lesbians and Gay Democratic Club, and I'm here to testify for Liberty City on behalf of the co-chairs, Mike Marsco (ph.) and Denise Kulp, and Denise Kulp had testified on the earlier bill back in June. Liberty City, Pennsylvania's larger and most active gay political organization, is committed to electing candidates who are sensitive to gay issues, electing qualified lesbian and gay candidates, and strengthening the Democratic party. Liberty City works primarily through field campaign activities, including voter registration, get-out-the-vote organizing, and voter education. Each election cycle, the club publicizes its endorsements to its members, to the media, and to the general public. Liberty City fully endorses Ordinance 19 505 to limit campaign contributions in City races. Philadelphia is in dire need of such legislation and is far behind most comparable cities. Of the ten largest cities in the nation, Philadelphia is one of just two that do not have any limits to the level of contributions one can make. Examples of other cities that have taken action include Tucson 121 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 in 1985, New York City in '88, Los Angeles in '90, and San Francisco in '95. Liberty City sees this bill, although not perfect, as an important starting point. This is an important point. Liberty City does not want to go this bill fail just because it does not go far enough. This is the beginning. More is needed but this legislation will lessen the perceived image of pay-to-play in City politics. Heavy financial contributors have an inordinate amount of influence over the electoral process. The money corrodes the actual working of the municipality, its heavy influence reaches to municipal contracts, employment opportunities, and developing and directing legislature. If a contributor is legally able to give any amount he or she can afford, it does not stretch the imagination that the contributor would have too strong of a claim on the direction of government. The last election here in Philadelphia has the dubious honor of being the most expensive city election in the nation's history -- over 27 million spent. Large contributions spanned from $10,000 to $150,000. Wouldn't it be great if some 122 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 of that 150,000 would have given to the library system rather than going to buy self-serving ads or to pay overpaid campaign consultants. The amount of money involved tears down the confidence the average citizen possesses in the City. They don't believe they have an honest shot at a contract or have a significant say in a piece of legislation. And with the tens of millions of dollars involved, can anyone say with any certainty that they do? In many other cities, candidates are still able the get their message out adequately to the voting base with the types of restrictions before us today. Especially in New York City, which is being closely watched, there don't seem to be any problems with these restrictions in promoting candidacies. The need for this bill seems so self-evident that it's hard to believe that there are still reservations about it. Liberty City urges all members of City Council to vote yes for this bill. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify. 123 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505
Thank you. Are there any questions from members of the committee? (No questions.)
Thank you very much for your patience. Alex Meltzer. (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon, Madam Chair. And good afternoon to other members of City Council. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be here today to talk about Bill 16 505.
I live and work in the City of Philadelphia and I'm also a member of the State Governing Board of Common Cause Pennsylvania. I'm going to read today from some prepared remarks, copies of which I have made available at the front desk. Common Cause Pennsylvania is a 124 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 nonpartisan citizens organization committed to achieving open, honest, accountable, and responsive government at all levels. With 1,000 active members in Philadelphia, and nearly 10,000 members statewide, Common Cause has spent more than two decades working toward these goals, with a network of engaged citizenry. The time has come to implement real campaign finance reform in Philadelphia. Last year, we achieved the disgraceful reputation of having conducted a mayoral race which broke the national record for the most money ever spent in a municipal election. You must realize that accompanying this sort of achievement is the perception that our City government is for sale to the highest bidder. Compound this with some lucrative business deals the City has recently brokered, and that perception grows even stronger. Bill 505, the campaign finance reform legislation under consideration today, proposes a good first step toward alleviating Philadelphia's dire problems with outrageous electoral fund-raising. Shortly, I will offer some friendly amendments to this bill, which can make it even 125 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 more effective. Let me repeat, however, that this is only a first step. Common Cause supports the far more robust earlier legislature presented to City Council, which would have addressed even more problems by instituting voluntary spending limits and providing public financing for candidates who abide by them. Putting such campaign finance reform measures in place will help to establish Philadelphia, along with other major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, as a leader in the movement to establish clean and ethical municipal government. Common Cause urges you to consider the following amendments in an effort to tighten up some of the ambiguous language: Number 1, definitions. In Section 19 20-801, number 1. Broaden this one language to include all elected offices in the City of Philadelphia, except for judicial candidates, which are considered to be part of the unified State judicial system. Number 2, definitions. Section 20-801, number 6. " This section could reflect language introduced last session in the Pennsylvania Senate by Senator Conte in Senate Bill 232. I have included similar language in an attachment to this testimony. Number 3, definitions. In section 8 20-801, number 7. Add a definition for "volunteer labor" as an individual who works for or on behalf of a candidate's campaign committee, but who receives no compensation from any source for the work he or she performs on behalf of the candidate's political campaign efforts. Number 4, contribution limits. Section 15 20-802, numbers 1 and 2. Political campaigns that are less than citywide in nature should have lower contribution limits. Under subsection 1, dealing with personal contributions, we suggest limiting contributions to $250 for campaigns that are less than citywide. Under subsection 2, political committee contributions to races that are less than citywide should have a contribution limit of $1,250. Number 5, add an additional limitation on total contributions by any single entity, 127 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 similar to the $25,000 limitation for all federal-level races, but scaled down for a municipal race. A new subsection, number 4, would limit aggregate annual contributions by any individual to all candidates running for office in Philadelphia to $10,000. Similarly, this section 8 should limit aggregate contributions by any political committee, except for bona fide party committees to all candidates running for office in Philadelphia to $50,000.
And lastly, add a section banning any candidate committee from making contributions to an independent expenditure campaign. That concludes the amendments. Common Cause supports Bill 505 with these amendments. Though a far cry from a complete reform package, these long-overdue campaign contribution limits offer a solid foundation on which to build a house of good government. Other cities have done much more for campaign finance reform, advancing their reputations as great places to live and establish businesses. If Philadelphia is really serious about becoming a city in which public policy is 128 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 developed with the high degree of integrity we deserve, then it must at some point also enact campaign expenditure limits and public financing of campaigns. Otherwise, we will continue to fail in our efforts to attract and retain a more responsible and engaged citizenry, new businesses, and much needed industry. Hopefully, City Council will work with Common Cause to restore Philadelphia's once-proud reputation and take a step forward into the 21st century. Thank you for allowing me to present the position of Common Cause on Bill No. 505, and I'd be happy to respond to any questions that Council may have.
Thank you. Are there any questions of this witness? (No questions.)
Our next witness is Jeff Ordower from Pennsylvania ACORN. (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon, Council. 129 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 I'm saying this -- I'm with ACORN, and Jeff had to leave. So I appreciate your time. Hi. My name is Betty Lefavi, and I live at 2028 East Tioga Street. I am a member of ACORN, a 500-member family organization of low- and moderate-income residents of Philadelphia. On behalf of ACORN, I am testifying in support of this ordinance, setting limits on campaign contributions. I have always believed that one person's equaling one vote, but if wealthy individuals and corporations who do not ever live in the City can give as much money as they want to politics, then we create a system where one dollar equals one vote. We must begin to limit big money in politics. We want to thank Congressman -- Councilman Kennedy (sic) for introducing this ordinance and taking a first step in taking the big money out of politics. People like me want to know that their votes count as much as anyone else, and it doesn't matter where they live. Thank you very much. Please support campaign finance reform.
Are there any questions of this witness? (No questions.)
Thank you very much. Dina Mendros, Citizens for Consumer Justice. (Witness comes forward.)
Thank you. My name is Dina Mendros, and I'm here representing Citizens for Consumer Justice. I'd like to thank members of City Council for allowing me to speak today about such an important issue. And I'd particularly like to credit Councilman Kenney and other members of City Council for taking the initiative to address the issue of limiting campaign contributions, which is a systemic problem in our democracy. Citizens for Consumer Justice has become the State's largest consumer organization and coalition working on preserving and strengthening Social Security, Medicare, lowering 131 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 prescription drug prices for consumers, passing a strong patient's bill of rights, preserving access to our civil justice system, winning (unintelligible) elections, and more. Working on these issues forces us to regularly battle the influence of special-interests dollars on the political process. And the problem is getting worse, it's spiraling out of control. The past election cycle was the most expensive in history, costing billions of dollars. S. cities without any restrictions on campaign contributions, Philadelphia's latest mayoral race was the most expensive in the nation to date, at a cost of approximately $27 million. If that were not scandalous enough in and of itself, a large portion of the individual contributions for the mayoral race were over $5,000, many over 25,000. As we know, most individuals cannot afford, nor should they have to afford, to spend that much money to see that their candidate has a fighting chance at the polls. In addition, a 132 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 significant portion of the money came from sources outside of the City. So not only were voices of most City residents muted by those financially better off, they were also muted by outsiders with a financial interest in the City, those who do not necessarily have the best interest of residents in mind. It's obvious that the system is broken, and it's up to government to fix it. In other parts of the country, some are taking up this challenge. A small but growing number of states are attempting -- and some have already succeeded -- to change the laws regulating campaign contributions. Voters in Maine, Arizona, Massachusetts have passed clean-money proposals, and the Vermont state legislature passed similar laws. Each of these states has established alternate financing systems and grant full public financing to candidates running for state office who reject special-interest contributions and agree to campaign spending limits. And the benefits of these laws were reaped in the last election, according to a November 18th New York Times article. 133 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 While Citizens for Consumer Justice prefers clean-money elections with full public financing of elections, where candidates run their campaigns entirely with money from a public fund, we do support Bill 505, which sets contribution limits. As we see it, this is an important first step on the road to more comprehensive reform of the City's campaigns finance laws. If passed, this proposal would help to level the playing field and give more Philadelphians equal opportunity, regardless of their economic status, gender, or the color of their skin. I mention economics, gender and race because when the vast majority of Americans stand outside of the political process all together, with roughly 95 percent of the adult population making no political contributions, it's a no-brainer to look at what's going on and see the situation for what it is: money, not democracy, is the name of the game. I'd also like to make a response to the comments by the Mayor's representative, who spoke earlier. We, of course, want a more comprehensive campaign finance reform bill, but we must take 134 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 this first step. It seems highly hypocritical to argue against this bill on the basis that it doesn't go far enough.
We've already seen a bill 5 which tried to do more but failed to move in this Council. If the Mayor really wants to show good faith that he feels campaign finance reform is an important issue, he should have been meeting with Council for months about this coming instead of coming in at this late date to stall or defeat this bill. While we recognize the Mayor has many issues on his plate, such as the stadiums, it is these vary issues which makes campaign finance reform so important. Today's system of financing political campaigns rewards large contributors by amplifying their voice at the expense of ordinary citizens. It is special-interests campaign contributions that effectively determine which candidates will have the resources to run serious election campaigns. This leaves out good candidates without money or connections to contributors. Once more, under our present campaign finance laws, politicians are first to spend too much time 135 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 raising campaign money instead of devoting their full energies to the duties of public office. With this in mind, I urge you to move forward in your efforts to level the playing field by supporting Bill 505. And despite its imperfections, we must start somewhere. I strongly urge you to vote Bill 505 out of committee today. And also, the Mayor should take up the suggestion to let this bill move out of committee, while working with Council to come up with a more comprehensive campaign finance reform bill. A truly vibrant democracy is one in which average Americans and grassroots organizations are shaping public policy, not large contributors and corporations. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Any questions from members of the committee? (No questions.)
Thank you. I believe our last witness is Kevin 136 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 Murphy from the Green Party. (Witness comes forward.)
Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. I'm Kevin Murphy, and I'm on the Student Committee of the Greens of Philadelphia, which is the local chapter of the Green Party. I'm not going to bore you with stuff that you've already heard. I just wanted to state the position of the Green Party on this issue, or actually myself representing the Greens of Philadelphia. And I wanted to make a couple of many comments about what I've seen here today. I wasn't planning to testify today, so I hope that Council overlooks my sartorial shortcomings. And I would hope that Council might be willing to overlook or work to address the shortcomings of this bill. Needless to say, the Green Party is fully in favor of campaign finance reform, and this bill, possibly with amendments such as those suggested by Common Cause, would be a welcome first step. I think the shortcomings of this bill 137 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 should not be used as excuse for further inactivity. One thing that I've noticed from the proceedings here, and from the language which occurred in the bill, is that there seems to be -- there seems to be a lack of research done within the Council on this issue, and I've noticed on other issues in the past. An issue of this importance really requires hundreds and hundreds of hours of research before you should feel yourselves capable of evaluating the subject matter intelligently. So I would hope that there would be some way of addressing this in the future. Regarding the education of the voters, which was a concern raised earlier, I just thought I would take this opportunity to plug public access cable television, which is used in other parts of the country for this purpose, public educational and government cable access. Finally, I wanted to address the comment by Councilman Ortiz that we don't learn from other cities. That's really a part of the overall problem of Council doing inadequate 138 12/12/00 - WHOLE - BILL 000505 research in order to make responsible decisions. And I'm going to continue to follow, you know, Council proceedings in the future, and I'd really like to see what I would consider more of a good-faith effort and a responsible effort to make responsible decisions on behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Is there anyone else to testify on the bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, this will conclude our public hearing. - - -
We will now go into our public meeting. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. I appreciate all the Councilmembers' attention in listening to all of the testimony today. I've had numerous conversations with members of Council and have listened to the 139 12/12/00 - WHOLE - PUBLIC MEETING testimony from the Administration. While I recognize that today, as we here, there are not enough votes to finally pass this piece of legislation as is, I do appreciate Councilmembers' support in allowing it to get out of committee and on the calendar. I do believe that from a position of the calendar, the Administration and others will take this situation seriously, will begin then the process of offering amendments and ideas on how it can be improved. And I also intend to speak specific input from various members of Council, any member who has an interest in supplying an amendment or ideas so that we can have a consensus bill sometime, you know, when we come back after the Christmas break into the spring, and get something passed that we all can live with and be proud of. But I do believe that from a position of it being on the calendar, it creates the necessity to deal with this as opposed to simply ignoring the issue into the future. So I do appreciate people's support and attention. And I make a motion that Bill No. 505 be reported off out of this committee with a 140 12/12/00 - WHOLE - PUBLIC MEETING favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
I believe it ought to be possible to develop a bill that meets both the Administration and the City Council's ideas on campaign finance reform. I believe this bill 13 represents a distinct step forward and it ought to be supported, but I hope we achieve what Councilman Kenney says is a forum that can put together a bill that's effective. And just one word to the Administration, and I'm taking the advice directly from the Mayor. When he said to us in the stadium deal, Don't nitpick it to death, it's not perfect, the same thing has to be thought about a campaign reform bill. The Administration successfully in its testimony nitpicked. You can find lots of flaws, but the campaign finance situation is very, very serious, and I think Council intends to get 141 12/12/00 - WHOLE - PUBLIC MEETING something passed. And I believe before the debate is over, there will be votes in Council, if necessary, to override a Mayor's veto, but I hope that it's going to be possible to get a bill 7 passed 'cause it would be in the interest of all Philadelphians. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I think the place to discuss this and improve this bill is in committee, and I would hope that that's where this bill would stay, rather than try to vote it out with so many loose ends. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 142 12/12/00 - WHOLE - PUBLIC MEETING I would like to go on record to say that there's value in having others who care about this issue who are outside of this committee, to be invited to be a part of the discussion, and I've made it exceedingly clear to my colleague that I do have serious concerns, and I will nitpick because I think it's okay to do. And to the extent that those concerns are addressed, therein lies my movement once the bill moves out of committee should it move out today.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I just want to suggest -- strongly suggest -- regardless of what happens to this bill today, that any further dialogue incorporates the State. I just have a serious concern about the lack of parity as it relates to the State-elected officials versus the municipal-elected officials, so without any real input on that level, I don't think that we're going to get what we need out of this bill. 143 12/12/00 - WHOLE - PUBLIC MEETING Thank you.
Thank you. Any other comments from members of the committee? (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and seconded that Bill No. 505 be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. Those opposed? (Some Councilmembers respond "no.")
I believe I heard three nays. Were there more than three? I think the majority --
I believe the ayes have it, and Bill No. 505 has been reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. (Applause.) (Adjourned at 4:45 p.m.) 144 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Tuesday, December 12, 2000, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHILE BILL NO. 000505 __________________________________, JOSEPHINE CARDILLO, Registered Professional Reporter