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

[Tom@TomCares.com]

He’s probably asking for a model ordinance imposing very low contribution
limits, and, perhaps, in-ad disclosure for IEs.

On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 2:51 PM Mike Ewall <mike at energyjustice.net> wrote:

>
> 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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> >
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