Willamette Week is reporting that the Portland Business Alliance is demanding that the Portland City Council immediately end the Voter-Owned Elections system where candidates for city office agree to limit their campaign spending in exchange for receiving an specified amount of funds to run their campaigns. The council is scheduled to refer a measure to Portland voters, asking whether or not the system should be preserved.  This referral is part of the original agreement when the system was first created:  let it operate for 3 cycles and then let voters decide whether to preserve it or not.

 

The Portland Business Alliance's demand is cynical.  The group couldn't gather enough signatures to defeat the program when it was first approved.  Now, in the age of the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court (which essentially said that anyone could spend anything they wanted in any election - something I can't help but notice runs directly counter to both the letter and spirit of Voter-Owned Elections), they want to avoid even the discussion about the system.

 

I don't know what Portlanders will actually decide in November.  I do know that I'm eager to engage in the discussion, just as I was when I was a VOE candidate in 2008.   As I said in my comments to the Willamette Week article, "let the debate begin."