Eureka's Campaign Finance Reform Proposals

Eureka City Council Dude Jeff Leonard's latest question on his Open Town Hall web site asks how you feel about limiting individual donations to local campaigns. Only seven votes, so far, and six are NO with my own vote being Maybe, although I'm more in line with the NO folks.

I think Ron Kuhnel and Nancy Abrams comments really bring home the point that city council members don't vote a certain way because of campaign contributions. They receive the contributions because of the type of candidate they are and positions on issues they already hold.

As Nancy Abrams pointed out, she got roughly the same percentage of votes both times she ran regardless of how much money she raised:

"Your base is your base, maybe? We live in a small community and it is not hard to make yourself known. Put yourself out there and let them know your philosophy and no amount of money will change their vote."- N Abrams

Agreed. Still, with all the talk about campaign finance reform going on in some circles, you'd think there would be at least one person with some kind of argument for limiting individual donations.