Aug 13, 2009
2010 will be here before you know it
2010 will be here before you know it
Publicly funded elections still on track
Hawaii County voters may think it is a little early to start talking about the 2010 election, but for County Council candidates considering a public funding option, now is the time, a community organizer says.
Category: General
Posted by: editor
Hawaii County voters may think it is a little early to start talking about the 2010 election, but for County Council candidates considering a public funding option, now is the time, a community organizer says.The county will be the first in the state to test private-donation-free election funding, enacted in 2008 by the Legislature and paid for through previous donations to the Hawaii election campaign fund. That fund was put into place in the late 1970s, following the 1978 Constitutional Convention, Voter Owned Hawaii Executive Director Kory Payne said.
"Publicly funded elections save taxpayers over time because candidates basically don't have to spend so much time fundraising," Payne said. "When it comes to certain issues, their decisions are not compromised. They're able to act in the public's interest all the time."
Voter Owned Hawaii is a nonprofit organization that promotes publicly funded elections.
Why talk about publicly funded elections a year before the next election? Payne said the process of collecting 200 signatures from registered voters in the district the candidate wishes to represent may be more difficult than people might anticipate. That's one of the benefits of publicly funded campaigns, he added.
"It weeds out candidates whose ideas are not in tune with the general public and it weeds out candidates not serious or well-known," he said.
Candidates can pick up nomination forms and begin submitting petitions with the 200 signatures, as well as a $5 donation to the Hawaii election campaign fund from each signer, Feb. 1. The deadline to declare intent to seek public funding is June 20, and the deadline to submit the completed application, signatures and $5 contributions is Aug. 19, 2010.
Payne said he anticipates the publicly funded option -- no candidate is required to participate and candidates who don't want to be publicly funded can still raise their own private donations -- will have an energizing effect on politics. He credits the need for candidates to get 200 signatures and donations for the anticipated positive impact because the face-to-face discussion with a candidate can create a stronger interest and involvement on the part of the voter.
The state Campaign Spending Commission will create guidelines and an online filing system for candidates who wish to be publicly funded; the Hawaii County Clerk's office is responsible for verifying that people who sign the candidates' forms are registered voters.
Under the law, candidates who opt to be fully publicly funded will receive 10 percent less money than the average amount spent by the winning candidates in that district the previous two election cycles. Candidates could receive more money, up to twice the original allotment, if their privately funded opponents spend additional money. State representatives attempted to postpone implementing earlier this year, with the blessing in the form of a resolution from a majority of Hawaii County Council members. Payne said the council's resolution to support the delayed start of the pilot program until 2014, was a thinly disguised attempt to ensure that the project never went forward.
Hawaii already allows candidates to request some public funding; Payne said. That fund, which will fully fund Big Island candidates who qualify, has about $5 million available.
Payne said about $300,000 will be spent every two-year-election cycle. The return, in addition to candidates who aren't asking for donations or who feel beholden to donors, is a more engaged voter.
"It's going to be neat," he said. "For people who give that $5 and signature, all of the sudden they feel connected to a candidate. They feel their voice matters."
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