Portlanders want fair elections, and they want city officials to be free from special influence by downtown business interests.

That’s why Mayor Tom Potter and the new City Council passed a campaign reform measure called the “voter-owned elections” system in 2005. Voter-owned elections allows candidates to run for office without relying on big money donors. Voter-owned elections reduces the power of special interests and wealthy campaign contributors and instead gives the power to ordinary voters. And that’s exactly why the special interests are trying to repeal it.

Downtown business interests want to be able to choose who runs for office in Portland, and influence what they do after getting elected through big-money contributions.

That’s why the special interests have launched a campaign for the May 16, 2006 election to take power away from voters by trying to repeal voter-owned elections. Stand up to them.

Vote NO POWER GRAB

Big Money Campaigns Rejected. Portland voters said "No!" to a million-dollar business-backed campaign for mayor last year, and elected Tom Potter. The city council and the mayor passed strong campaign finance reform as a result. But the downtown business interests want to return to the old days when they could buy their candidates through million-dollar campaigns and the type of fundraising and lobbying that has led to national scandals in Washington, D.C. We must stop these types of scandals from coming here to Portland.

The Solution: Voter-Owned Elections. Under voter-owned elections, qualified candidates can receive a limited amount of public money in exchange for swearing off campaign contributions and agreeing to strict spending limits. Many more kinds of people can run for office, not just the rich or those who can raise money from wealthy people. And, public officials can spend their time listening to ordinary voters, not those who write the biggest checks.

High Stakes. If wealthy special interests get their way, they will take back the power that is now in the hands of the people of Portland. They don’t want their power reduced. They don’t want a level playing field. They have lost influence, and they want to get it back. That’s why they are launching a repeal of the city’s current campaign finance system in this May's election, so they can once again play a primary role in choosing who gets elected to City Hall.

Don’t Let Them Do It. Real estate barons, big utilities and other big downtown interests don’t own Portland. Voters do. Don’t let them destroy Portland’s voter-owned elections.

Vote ‘NO POWER GRAB’ this May. Vote ‘NO’ this May to STOP the REPEAL of Portland’s voter-owned elections system. Keep elections fair for all.