Marin Clean Elections Citizens Group Launches Full Public Campaign Financing Movement in San Rafael

June 16, 2008, San Rafael. Marin Clean Elections, a grassroots coalition, will announce its intention to bring full public funding of San Rafael City Council campaigns at tonight’s City Council meeting (1400 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901).

“San Rafael is the perfect place for clean elections to take hold in California, “said Moira Brennan, Northern California Director of California Clean Money Campaign. “San Rafael residents are alarmed by the soaring costs of recent city campaigns and the influence of negative independent expenditure mailers. Full publicly funded campaigns will make elected officials accountable to the public, level the playing field to bring in new candidates, and allow candidates and elected officials to spend their time serving the public, not courting donors.”

Clean Elections systems are already functioning in seven states and two cities, Portland, OR and Albuquerque, MN. Santa Fe, NM also recently voted to adopt full public funding for its city campaigns. Many of Marin’s elected officials are enthusiastic about implementing public funding here and making California history in the process.

“We could use Clean Elections here,” commented Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan, “They would reduce the need for fundraising, reduce the temptation to use third party groups to attack opponents, and would make elections more democratic, since the ability to raise money isn’t necessarily the best indicator of fitness for the job.”

Marin Clean Elections plans a vigorous program of education and outreach over the summer and fall months. Presentations to community groups, neighborhood associations, service clubs and the faith-based and civil justice communities will outline the benefits of clean elections and provide participants with the opportunity to comment and contribute to the development of the reform proposal for the City.

Speaker’s training is open to interested parties and is scheduled for the evening of Monday, June 23. The official launch of the San Rafael clean elections movement will be held June 30 at San Rafael City Hall.

“We hope that San Rafael’s City Council will carefully weigh this opportunity to bring truly representative democracy to San Rafael,” said Steve Patterson, chair of the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods. “A clean campaign system will create more confidence in government, better elections, and ultimately better public services. It’s an investment in the future of San Rafael.”

For more information and to get involved, visit www.marincleanelections.org.