By Barry M. Horstman, Post staff reporter
Seeking to curtail big money's role in Cincinnati politics, a
group Wednesday turned in petitions to place a charter amendment on
the November ballot to establish voluntary campaign spending limits
and provide partial public financing of council and mayoral races.
Citizens for Fair Elections submitted nearly 11,300 signatures -
well above the 6,845 required - to the Cincinnati City Council
clerk's office to qualify the proposed campaign reform for the
ballot.
An informal check, officials said, has shown that the petitions
include a sufficient number of valid signatures.
''Chasing after big money has become the dominant theme of
national and local politics,'' said Pete Strauss, the former City
Council member who co-chairs Citizens for Fair Elections. ''Our
reforms would go a long way toward diminishing big money.''
The proposal, which has been endorsed by 14 civic, political and
neighborhood organizations, would create a $1,000 contribution limit
for individual donors, a $2,500 limit for political action
committees and a $10,000 limit for political parties.
It also would provide partial public financing for mayoral and
council candidates willing to abide by a voluntary cap on overall
spending, to be set at three times the offices' respective salaries.
The current council salary is $55,701, creating a $167,103
voluntary limit, a figure substantially below what most major
candidates typically spend.
The voluntary limits aim to circumvent potential legal problems
with mandatory campaign spending limits, which courts repeatedly
have struck down as unconstitutional.
Under the plan, candidates who qualify for public financing by
raising a minimum amount of contributions, $5,000 and $10,000,
respectively, for council and mayoral candidates, would receive $2
in public funds for $1 in individual contributions, up to the
voluntary limit.
The charter amendment also would create a citizen commission to
oversee local campaign finance regulations and would strengthen
public disclosure requirements by adding extra reporting periods for
candidates' contributions and expenditures.
