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

Mon Aug 26 07:06:17 PDT 2019

Ranked choice voting might also help. The special interest wouldn’t be able
put huge backing behind one candidate while all the genuine public servant
types, with less funding, pull votes away from each other, letting the
special interest candidate grab a plurality.

On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 3:01 PM Tom at TomCares.com <Tom at tomcares.com> wrote:

> 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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>> >https://www.avg.com
>> >
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