[EL] HELP NEEDED: Local Clean Election Law for NY

[Sean Parnell]

My apologies, I read " The objective is to make it harder for a corporate
polluter to take over the town in the election this November" and somehow
drew the conclusion that you were hoping the law would work to the
disadvantage of one particular interest. 

Best,

Sean Parnell

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Ewall <mike at energyjustice.net> 
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2019 9:51 AM
To: Sean Parnell <sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>; 'Election Law Listserv'
<law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: RE: [EL] HELP NEEDED: Local Clean Election Law for NY


Friends:

This isn't an issue of siding with "some interest" over "other interests,"
but one of having a neutral law that makes it harder for special interests
(private, corporate, moneyed interests) from dominating an election, so that
other candidates who operate more in the public interest aren't drowned out
by money buying the election.

Any model local laws anyone can share would be most appreciated.

Thanks!
Mike


At 09:22 AM 8/26/2019, Sean Parnell wrote:
>So, to clarify - you are seeking the proper language for an ordinance 
>that will fund a campaign to make it more likely that the candidates 
>supported by some interests win and the candidates supported by other
interests lose?
>
>That seems... problematic.
>
>Sean Parnell
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> On 
>Behalf Of Mike Ewall
>Sent: Friday, August 23, 2019 3:27 PM
>To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
>Subject: [EL] HELP NEEDED: Local Clean Election Law for NY
>
>
>Hi all,
>
>Is there anyone on this list who could help me design a local Clean 
>Elections Law for a Town in the state of New York? The objective is to 
>make it harder for a corporate polluter to take over the town in the 
>election this November. We'd have a majority willing to pass the law 
>soon if we can get it crafted.
>
>Here's a little background on the situation.
>
>First, I'm new to this list, having just learned about it from Richard 
>Winger. I'm the Executive Director of a national environmental justice 
>group called Energy Justice Network. We help communities stop dirty 
>energy and waste industries, among other things.
>
>In the past two years, I've been working with residents to stop plans 
>by the world's largest cement corporation (LafargeHolcim) to burn trash 
>from 50-70 Connecticut towns in the huge cement kiln next to a high 
>school in the Town of Coeymans, New York (Albany County). We got that 
>stopped in late 2017, but then the company doubled down on wanting to 
>burn tires there, which we stopped when the Town hired me to draft a 
>Clean Air Law, which was passed in late March 2019. It was passed in a 
>3-2 vote of the Town Board. It happens that the three YES votes are 
>Democrats who are all up for election this year. The others are both 
>Republicans who almost voted the right way, but did not. The company's 
>stooges are trying to take over the town in this year's election, and 
>they only need to win one seat to overturn our Clean Air Law. The 
>sitting Dems seem willing to pass a Clean Elections Law if we can draft one
for them quickly.
>
>My thoughts on this so far are that we'd need something that fits the 
>situation and isn't likely to get caught up in lengthy legal 
>challenges. It has to be something that a local government in NY can 
>pass. We should also recognize that the Town probably doesn't have a 
>lot of money to be putting into publicly financing the election in any 
>way. While I'm pretty familiar with an array of needed election reforms 
>at various levels of government, the only one that seems particularly 
>relevant to this situation right now would be something where the Town 
>would make very public the campaign contribution data that is already 
>having to be reported to the state/county government.
>This might mean paying for a mailing to all voters, having something in 
>the local paper, and/or having prominent signs outside of polling 
>locations stating who received what money from which interests.
>
>I'm open to other suggestions, and could use help in drafting any of 
>this, since I haven't written these sorts of laws before.
>
>Please feel free to call or email me to discuss.
>
>Best,
>
>Mike Ewall, Esq.
>Executive Director
>Energy Justice Network
>215-436-9511
>mike at energyjustice.net
>http://www.energyjustice.net
>
>
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