Clean Money Scorecard

Transcription

1 California Clean Money Scorecard A review of legislators votes for campaign finance reform by the Which Side Are You On?

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3 The Clean Money Scorecard for the Session Holding Legislators Accountable for Campaign Finance Votes The last two years were historic in the fight against Big Money special interests in California. In 2017, we passed the nation-leading California DISCLOSE Act (AB 249) after a relentless seven-year grassroots campaign the strongest political ad disclosure law in the country. This year we followed up with unprecedented progress and a series of bipartisan Clean Money victories expanding AB 249 to social media platforms and initiative signature gathering, protecting Net Neutrality, moving towards more secure and transparent elections, and stopping a bill that would have dramatically increased the amount of special interest money controlled by legislative leaders. Big Money special interests have dominated California for far too long. Laws like these are needed because voters voices are drowned out by the billions spent by special interests in this new era of unlimited secret spending by corporations, unions, and billionaires unleashed by the Supreme Court s outrageous Citizens United decision. It s corrupting our democracy. Good government organizations like the California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, California Public Interest Research Group, and the League of Women Voters of California regularly work with thoughtful legislators to propose strong new bills to improve campaign disclosure and to lessen the dominance of Big Money in California politics. Unfortunately, such bills are often opposed by the very Big Money special interests whose undue influence they would curb. Many legislators have received thousands of dollars or more in campaign contributions from these interests. And legislators who haven t received money from them often fear the huge amounts special interests might spend against them if they don t agree to lobbyists demands. This makes it a challenge to pass strong campaign finance reform laws. Sunlight Is the Best Disinfectant That s why the, the 501(c)(4) political advocacy arm of the California Clean Money Campaign, creates the California Clean Money Scorecard at the end of every legislative session. This session s scorecard is our fourth. Voters need to know which legislators are Clean Money Champions the strongest advocates for the Big Idea that regular voters should have more information and power in elections and which stand more often with Big Money special interests against campaign finance reform. Clean Money Champion Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), once again the highest scoring legislator on the Clean Money scorecard, speaks with a bullhorn to over 100 Clean Money supporters at the Give the DISCLOSE Act a Vote! rally on the State Capitol steps last year, along with other Clean Money Champions Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), Assembly Member Laura Friedman (D-Burbank), and other California DISCLOSE Act leaders and coalition partners Clean Money Scorecard Page 1

4 How We Score Them This session s Scorecard covers six bills supported by the California Clean Money Campaign that address problems arising when Big Money dominates politics, and two other closely related issues. One of our highest priority bills was AB 249, the California DISCLOSE Act, authored by Assembly members Kevin Mullin and Marc Levine and sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign. AB 249 required political ads to clearly show their top three true funders, not front groups. The other top priority bill was AB 2188, the Social Media DISCLOSE Act, authored by Assembly member Mullin working with the California Clean Money Campaign, to extend AB 249 s nationleading disclosure rules to political ads on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. The other four bills were SB 651 (Allen), the Petition DISCLOSE Act, to require initiative petitions to show their top funders; AB 2155 (Mullin) to address ways ads were trying to get around AB 249, plus SB 822 (Wiener & de León) and SB 460 (de León & Wiener) to restore Net Neutrality. This year s Scorecard also includes our state budget request to allocate funds to develop Open- Source Paper Ballot Voting Systems to make elections more secure and transparent. Finally, we include AB 84, a bill good government groups unanimously opposed because it would have allowed four new political party committees directed by legislative leaders and would have vastly increased how much money they can receive and direct. Insider Scores Actions that legislators take behind the scenes can be just as important, if not even more important, than their actual votes. The Clean Money Scorecard takes this into account by giving a positive Insider Score to legislators who author or co-author the bills in the scorecard or otherwise make an extra effort to pass them. On the other hand, when legislators block progress behind the scenes or try to pass bills that go against Clean Money, they earn a negative Insider Score. Insider Scores allow the scorecard to go beyond the public voting record to highlight legislators who stand out as real Clean Money Champions. Insider scores given are listed in the tables below. Scoring Their Clean Money Votes, Not Their Fundraising The Scorecard does not say anything about how clean a legislator s fundraising is or assess their voting record on non-clean Money bills. Until we have Clean Money public financing of campaigns, all candidates must obtain their campaign contributions from private sources. Instead, the Clean Money Scorecard focuses exclusively on how often legislators advocate, help, and vote for reforms to help fix our broken campaign system and democracy. Page Clean Money Scorecard

5 Priority Bill on the Clean Money Scorecard AB 249 (Mullin-Levine): California DISCLOSE Act One of the most important campaign finance bills in the country was the California DISCLOSE Act, authored by Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) and Assembly Member Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) and sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign. AB 249 is the strongest disclosure law in the nation. With AB 249 the law since Jan 2018, ballot measure ads and ads about candidates by independent expenditures are required to clearly list their top 3 funders. No more fine print. Equally important, it s the first law in the nation that requires ballot measure ads to use new follow-the-money earmarking rules to identify the true funders, even if they try to hide behind layers of front groups. Because of the dramatic disclosure changes AB 249 made to hundreds of millions of dollars of ads in California, it faced tremendous opposition and it required a nimble yet relentless grassroots and coalition campaign with inspired leadership from Clean Money Champions to pass. We won! Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin Status of AB 249: AB 249 was signed into law by Governor Brown last year (2017) after passing the Assembly on a bipartisan vote of and passing the Senate on a bipartisan vote of Scoring on AB 249: Because AB 249 was one of our top priority bills, it counts double on the scorecard. In addition to the leadership of its authors and principal coauthors Senators Ben Allen, Jerry Hill, Henry Stern, and Assembly Member Marc Berman, then-senate President pro Tem Kevin de León stepped in to bring all parties together to reach a final deal in the in time to pass it. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon also played a key role in ensuring its passage. Assembly Member Marc Levine Also crucial to AB 249 s passage was the bipartisan support provided by the five Republican Assembly Members and two Republican Senators who voted for AB 249 against the rest of their party. Assembly Member Catharine Baker deserves special credit for lobbying her fellow Republicans to vote Yes on the Assembly floor. Support for AB 249: Victory came after more than 350 good government organizations and leaders endorsed AB 249, over 100,000 Californians signed petitions, tens of thousands of Clean Money supporters sent s, many thousands made phone calls or took action on social media, and hundreds attended rallies and packed hearing rooms, among other outpourings of grassroots activism.. AB 249 author Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo), speaking at August 23, 2017 rally of 100+ Clean Money supporters where he was able to announce that AB 249 would get a vote. He stepped up to take over as author when others wouldn t after AB 700 & AB 14 author Assembly Member Jimmy Gomez moved to Congress Clean Money Scorecard Page 3

6 Priority Bill on the Clean Money Scorecard AB 2188 (Mullin): Social Media DISCLOSE Act The top priority campaign finance reform bill of 2018 was AB 2188, the Social Media DISCLOSE Act, authored by Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) working with the California Clean Money Campaign. AB 2188 solidifies and expands the AB 249 victory (in 2017) by requiring disclosure of funders of political ads on Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other online platforms. AB 2188 requires online platforms to accompany ballot measure ads and independent expenditure ads about candidates with a clear list of the committee's name and its top three funders of $50,000 or more. The platform must link to the info, but if they also choose to show the name of the committee on the ad itself (as Facebook and Twitter do now) they must also first list the top three funders. This way misleading committee names are never seen without their top 3 funders. Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin AB 2188 also uses the first-in-the-nation rules of AB 249 to follow the money to identify original donors even when their funds pass through multiple committees or other front groups. AB 2188 also requires platforms to keep a publicly accessible database of all the political ads a committee pays for. Status of AB 2188: AB 2188 was signed into law by Governor Brown on September 26, 2018 after passing the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 31-8 and passing the Assembly on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 69-3 by far the largest vote in California in years for such a powerful disclosure bill. Scoring on AB 2188: Because AB 2188 was one of our top priority bills, it counts double on the scorecard. Senate Floor Manager Jerry Hill and principal coauthors Senators Ben Allen and Henry Stern joined Assembly Member Mullin in leading the fight for its passage. Assembly Member Dante Acosta showed particular bipartisan leadership by helping AB 2188 achieve a record 15 Republican Assembly votes. Assembly Members Catharine Baker and Marc Steinorth also stood out by speaking on the Assembly floor to urge other Republicans to join them in voting Yes. Support for AB 2188: Grassroots and coalition support was essential to AB 2188's decisive passage. Hundreds of volunteers gathered over 26,000 signatures in favor, and thousands of supporters called their legislators and Governor Brown. It was supported by 31 state and national good government and public interest organizations, including: Page Clean Money Scorecard

7 Other Bills on the Clean Money Scorecard SB 651 (Allen): Petition DISCLOSE Act Authored by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) and sponsored by California Clean Money Campaign, SB 651, the Petition DISCLOSE Act, would have required initiative petition signature gatherers to show voters their top 3 funders of $50,000 or more before asking them to sign. Proposed amendments would have also made it easier for grassroots campaigns to help qualify initiatives by allowing the petition text to be stapled to the signature page rather than requiring special bindings that can only be created by expensive professional printers. Senator Ben Allen Support: CA Clean Money Campaign, CA Church IMPACT, CA Common Cause, CA League of Conservation Voters, CA Physicians Alliance, CA Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), CounterPAC, Endangered Habitats League, GMO Free CA, Lutheran Office of Public Policy, Maplight, Money Out Voters In, People Demanding Action, People for the American Way, Voices For Progress Education Fund. More than 24,000 Californians signed petitions for SB 651. Status: SB 651 passed the Senate on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 28-9 and made it to the Assembly floor after passing the Assembly Elections Committee 5-0 and Assembly Appropriations But, at the last minute it was opposed by several labor organizations. In exchange for their agreement not to oppose a 2019 version including amendments that eliminate concerns about printing costs, Senator Allen withdrew SB 651 and will introduce it again on the first day of the next legislative session. AB 2155 (Mullin): California DISCLOSE Act Cleanup Bill Authored by Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) working with the California Clean Money Campaign. AB 2188 follows up on the AB 249 victory to clarify several issues that came up at the Fair Political Practices Commission with the California DISCLOSE Act s language. It also addresses ways some advertisements were cheating AB 249 s formatting rules in the 2018 primaries. Support: California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, Fair Political Practices Commission, League of Women Voters of California. Status: AB 2155 was signed into law by Governor Brown on September 26, 2018 after passing the Senate 25-5 and the Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin AB 84 (Mullin): New Political Party Committees OPPOSED AB 84 was the rare California campaign finance bill in recent years that the California Clean Money Campaign and our coalition partners had to oppose, even though it was authored by (usual Clean Money Champion) Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo). AB 84 would have modestly improved transparency by increasing the frequency that political party committees had to submit full disclosure reports. But it was unanimously opposed by good government groups because it would have allowed four new political party committees directed by legislative leaders who could receive contributions of 8 times the amount legislative leaders can currently receive, and then give unlimited amounts to candidates. They also would have been able to receive unlimited contributions to make independent expenditures about candidates, just like SuperPACs. There is no doubt that serious reforms are needed for California political party committees which currently have much higher contribution limits than federal political party committees but California s good government community unanimously agreed that AB 84 was not the right solution. Opposition:: CA Clean Money Campaign, CA Common Cause, CA Democratic Party, CA League of Conservation Voters, CA Republican Party, CALPIRG, Courage Campaign, Indivisible CA, League of Women Voters of CA, Money Out Voters In, Represent.Us, Voices for Progress. Status: AB 84 required a 2/3 vote to pass, and was withdrawn after a letter signed by 12 Senate Republicans saying the Senate Republican Caucus opposes the advancement of the bill this year Clean Money Scorecard Page 5

8 Other Measures on the Clean Money Scorecard SB 822 (Wiener & de León) and SB 460 (de León & Wiener): Restore Net Neutrality to California An internet that's equally available to all is essential for fighting powerful interests that, without Net Neutrality, can block or slow communications among individuals, the public, and even elected officials. SB 822 will stop Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from blocking or throttling some websites, giving paid priority to some websites over others, or using access fees or anti-consumer zero-rating practices that constrain free choice. SB 460 was a companion bill that would have reinforced SB 822 by barring the state from doing business with ISPs that violate the net neutrality rules of SB 822. Senator Scott Wiener Support: Hundreds of consumer groups, public interest groups, progressive organizations, labor organizations, and internet start-ups. The delivered 90,013 signatures for SB 822 to Governor Brown from a broad coalition, including 70,409 from Californians. Status: SB 822 was signed into law by Governor Brown on September 30, 2018 after passing the Assembly and Senate on bipartisan votes of and SB 460 passed the Senate on a vote of 21-12, but failed to pass the Assembly on a vote of after heavy lobbying by ISPs like Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T. Senator Kevin de León The Department of Justice immediately sued to stop SB 822 from being enforced. California s Attorney General agreed not to take any action to enforce SB 822 until the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court weigh in on the FCC's repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules. State Budget Request (Wiener-Chiu): Fund Development of Open-Source Paper Ballot Voting Systems There have long been fact-based concerns about the security and transparency of our elections. Current voting machines are built and serviced by corporate vendors using proprietary, secret software that's so hackable the 2017 DEF CON conference called it a "national security risk. The solution is publicly owned Open-Source Paper Ballot Voting Systems that are openly licensed and available for inspection, using paper ballots that can be recounted by hand. But counties need help to build and certify these systems. Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assembly Member David Chiu (D-San Francisco), working with the California Clean Money Campaign, submitted state budget requests to provide $8 million in matching funds to help counties develop open-source voting systems. Support: CA Clean Money Campaign, CA Association of Voting Officials, CA Common Cause, CA Democratic Party African American Caucus, CA Voter Foundation, Californians for Disability Rights, Courage Campaign, Daily Kos, Endangered Habitats League, FairVote CA, GMO Free CA, Harrington Investments, Inc., Open Source Initiative (OSI), Money Out Voters In, People Demanding Action, Progressive Democrats of America, Voting Rights Task Force. Senator Scott Wiener Assembly Member David Chiu Status: Though both the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees heard presentations from the authors and supporters, neither allowed a vote, so the request did not succeed this year. However, our parallel campaign in San Francisco resulted in the city s allocating nearly $1.6 million to start developing their open-source voting system, thanks to the leadership of SF Board of Supervisors President Malia Cohen. Page Clean Money Scorecard

9 How Cleanly Did Assembly Members Score? In previous scorecards, the vast majority of Assembly Democrats voted Yes on all Clean Money bills (earning an A ), but this year only 51% did while almost all the others failed to vote Yes on SB 460 (1 of 2 Net Neutrality bills). However, 98% of Democrats got an A or a B. Seven Democrats stood out as Clean Money Champions for their particularly strong leadership. Republicans didn t score nearly as high on average, but a record 24% earned an A or a B. Contrast that to Congressional Republicans who rarely if ever vote for campaign finance reform. Four Republicans stood out above the others as Clean Money Champions, and all provided crucial Yes votes on the four most important bills. % With Top Clean Money Grades 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Democrats B: 47% A: 51% Republicans B: 16% A: 8% Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Democratic Assembly Members Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) Author AB249, AB2188, AB2155. Coauthor SB651, SB822,Open Source Highest Score David Chiu (D-San Francisco) Author Open Source. Coauthor AB249, AB2188, SB 822 Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) Author AB249, Coauthor AB2188 Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) Manager SB460 Coauthor AB249, SB822 Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) Coauthor AB249, AB2188, SB822 Laura Friedman (D-Burbank) Coauthor AB249, SB822 Outspoken Supporter Marc Berman (D-Los Altos) Principal AB249 Leadership as Elections Chair Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Republican Assembly Members Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon) Key Leadership AB 249 Yes AB2188, AB2155, SB822 Lowest-Scoring Assembly Members Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach): F Rocky Chávez (R-Oceanside): F Phillip Chen (R-Brea): F Steven Choi (R-Irvine): F Brian Dahle (R-Bieber): F Dante Acosta (R-Santa Clarita) Key Leadership AB 2188 Yes AB249, AB2155, SB822 Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) Yes AB249, AB2188 AB2155, SB822 Brian Maienschein (R-San Diego) Yes AB249, AB2188 AB2155, SB822 Vincent Fong (R-Bakersfield): F Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach): F Jim Patterson (R-Fresno): F Marie Waldron (R-Escondido): F Clean Money Scorecard Page 7

10 How Cleanly Did State Senators Score? In the last scorecard, all but two Senate Democrats voted Yes on all the Clean Money bills (earning an A ), but this year 6 (23%) earned only a B because they didn t support 1 of 8 Clean Money issues. However, 77% of Democrats earned an A and 100% earned an A or a B. Six Democrats stood out as Clean Money Champions for their particularly strong leadership. Republicans as usual didn t score nearly as high on average, but a record 21% still got an A or a B. Contrast that to Congressional Republicans who rarely if ever vote for campaign finance reform. Three Republicans stood out above the others as Clean Money Champions, all providing crucial Yes votes and leadership on the most important bills. % With Top Clean Money Grades 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Democrats B: 23% A: 77% Republicans B: 21% A: 7% Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Democratic Senators Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) Author SB651, Principal AB249, AB2188, SB822 Coauthor Open Source Highest Score Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) Author SB460, SB82 Principal AB249 Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) Principal AB249, AB2188 Coauthor Open Source Jerry Scott Hill Wiener (D-San Mateo) (D-San Francisco) Manager Author AB2188, AB 2155 SB822, SB460 Principal Open-Source AB249, SB822 Coauthor AB249 Bill Dodd (D-Napa) Principal SB822 Coauthor AB249, AB2188 Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Republican Senators Ling Ling Chang (R-Brea) Leadership Against AB 84 Yes AB2188, AB2155, SB822 Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres) Leadership Against AB 84 Yes AB249, AB2188, SB651 Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) Leadership Against AB 84 Yes AB249, AB2188, SB651 Lowest-Scoring Senators Joel Anderson (R-La Mesa): F Tom Berryhill (R-Fresno): F Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield): D- Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado): D- Mike Morrell (R-Rancho Cucamonga): D- Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber): D- Jeff Stone (La Quinta): D- Andy Vidak (R-Hanford): D- Page Clean Money Scorecard

11 Assembly Members Votes on Scored Items : Voted Right Author: Author CO: Coauthor PC: Principal Coauthor FM: Floor Manager c: Committed : Voted Wrong o: Present but no vote (counts as Voted No) ---: Wasn t Present *Insider Score Bonus Points: Priority Clean Money bills (AB 249, AB 2188, SB 651, and AB 84): 20 points for authors, 15 for principal coauthors and floor managers, and 10 for regular coauthors. Other bills are scored half of those for each. *AB 84 was opposed by California Clean Money Campaign, so scores are opposite of other bills. 1 Assembly Member Catharine Baker earned insider points for lobbying other Republicans to vote Yes on AB 249 and AB Assembly Member Dante Acosta earned insider points for lobbying other Republicans to vote Yes on AB Assembly Members Marc Berman and Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher earned insider points for leadership on Clean Money bills as chair of Assembly Elections and Assembly Appropriations, respectively. 4 Assembly Member Laura Friedman earned insider points for being an outspoken supporter at multiple key AB 249 rallies Clean Money Scorecard Page 9

12 Assembly Members Votes on Scored Items : Voted Right Author: Author CO: Coauthor PC: Principal Coauthor FM: Floor Manager c: Committed : Voted Wrong o: Present but no vote (counts as Voted No) ---: Wasn t Present *Insider Score Bonus Points: Priority Clean Money bills (AB 249, AB 2188, SB 651, and AB 84): 20 points for authors, 15 for principal coauthors and floor managers, and 10 for regular coauthors. Other bills are scored half of those for each. *AB 84 was opposed by California Clean Money Campaign, so scores are opposite of other bills. 1 Assembly Members Chad Mayes and Sharon Quirk-Silva earned insider points for committing early to vote Yes on SB Assembly Member Marc Steinorth earned insider points for speaking urging other Republicans to vote Yes on AB Speaker Anthony Rendon earned insider points for helping ensure AB 249 and other Clean Money bills got floor votes. Page Clean Money Scorecard

13 Senators Votes on Scored Items : Voted Right Author: Author CO: Coauthor PC: Principal Coauthor FM: Floor Manager c: Committed : Voted Wrong o: Present but no vote (counts as Voted No) ---: Wasn t Present *Insider Score Bonus Points: Priority Clean Money bills (AB 249, AB 2188, SB 651, and AB 84): 20 points for authors, 15 for principal coauthors and floor managers, and 10 for regular coauthors. Other bills are scored half of those for each. *AB 84 was opposed by California Clean Money Campaign, so scores are opposite of other bills. 1 Earned insider points for committing to vote No on AB Senator Scott Wilk and Senate Minority Leader Patricia Bates earned extra insider points for lobbying other Republicans to commit to voting No on AB Senate Elections Committee Chair Henry Stern, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairs Ricardo Lara and then Anthony Portantino, and Senate President pro Tems Kevin de León and then Toni Atkins all earned insider points for moving Clean Money bills forward when needed Clean Money Scorecard Page 11

14 What is the? The is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(4) organization that is the political advocacy arm of the 501(c)(3) California Clean Money Campaign. The California Clean Money Action Fund has over 150,000 supporters from around the state who care deeply about the problems of money in politics. We ve been fighting for legislation and ballot measures to limit the undue influence of Big Money in politics in California since The is funded entirely by donations from individuals and foundations, and does not accept any funds from corporations or unions. Board of Directors of the Kevin Wolf, Chair Co-Founder of Wind Harvest International (WHI) Founder of Wolf and Associates Trent Lange, PhD., President and Executive Director CEO of Lange Fund Management, LLC and founder of Non-Profit Catalyst Wayne Williams, Secretary Treasurer Photographer and political activist The Honorable Sally Lieber Former Assembly Speaker pro Tempore and State Assembly Member from the 22nd District Former Mayor of Mountain View Brad Parker Recording artist and activist President, Valley Democrats United David Schmidt Owner and Tour Leader for California Nature Tours Regional Volunteer Coordinator 3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 208 Culver City, CA Info@CACleanAction.org * (800) * Fax: (888) Page Clean Money Scorecard