To: Council President Herb Wesson, Councilmember Jose Huizar, and Councilmember Tom LaBonge
Help small donors, not big donors! @HerbJWesson @JoseHuizar @TomLaBonge
LA City Rules Committee: The Ethics Commission proposal to increase the matching funds rate to 6-1 and increase the total amount of public funds is an important proposal that has the potential to encourage small donors to participate in elections.
But because it doesn’t lower the max matched per person, huge amounts of public funds would be given to the largest donors. Please amend the proposal so that matching funds benefit small donors, not big donors! Lower the maximum part of a donation that is matched to $100 or at most $175.
Why is this important?
The Los Angeles Ethics Commission recently proposed important changes to the city's matching funds system to increase the rate at which qualified donations are matched to 6 dollars for every dollar. This has the potential to give small donors a fighting chance in city elections.
Unfortunately, the Commission has not recommended lowering the amount that can be matched per donor. Under the current proposal, up to $500 of a donation gets the 6-1 match, meaning somebody who gave $1,300 — clearly not a "small" donor — would get $3,000 in public funds — making their advantage over small donors even bigger!
Please urge the three members of the Los Angeles City Council Rules Committee to fix the proposal: City Council President Herb Wesson, Councilmember Jose Huizar, and Councilmember Tom Labonge. Sign the petition now!