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

Mon Aug 26 07:30:51 PDT 2019

Here’s San Mateo’s law establishing a $500 contribution limit for city
council campaigns.
https://sanmateo.ca.us.open.law/us/ca/cities/san-mateo/code/2.80

On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 3:17 PM Steve Klein <stephen.klein.esq at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Mike,
>
> Greetings! You have stumbled onto a listserv where a small but
> occasionally effective (and, this morning, feisty) minority believes *Citizens
> United* was properly decided and that the First Amendment is not a
> balancing test, particularly at the hands of, well, anyone who would like
> it to be.
>
> Your candor is welcome, but if mimicked by those voting on such an
> ordinance it would tee off viewpoint discrimination or content-based
> arguments if one were to challenge the ordinance in question on free speech
> grounds.
>
> I suspect there’s a lot of candor like this amongst legislators at all
> levels when crafting what end up as facially neutral laws. But, still
> lacking that giant dark money check from [insert dropdown menu of big money
> boogeypersons here], adventures in FOIA on my part will have to wait.
>
> All the best,
>
> Steve
>
> On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 9:51 AM 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
>> >
>> >
>> >---
>> >This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
>> >https://www.avg.com
>> >
>> >_______________________________________________
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>> >Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Steve Klein
> Attorney
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenrklein
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