-Caveat Lector-
"The total soft money investment is about EIGHT HUNDRED times greater
than in the last mayor's race four years ago in 1995."
Calif Mayor Race Awash in Soft Money
By MICHAEL WARREN
.c The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Exploiting a campaign finance loophole, Mayor Willie
Brown is benefiting from more than $1 million in special interest spending,
much of it from sources that won't be disclosed until after next week's
election, city records show.
The total for so-called soft money is about 800 times greater than in the
1995 mayor's race, and the strategy could be the model for future races.
``He's writing the game plan for the future'' of political fundraising by
limiting donations to his own campaign and allowing interest groups to
collect and spend unlimited funds on his behalf, says Charles Marsteller of
California Common Cause.
Brown's challenger in Tuesday's election, Board of Supervisors President Tom
Ammiano, accuses the mayor of selling out to Big Business. But the mayor's
official reports show his campaign has received not one penny from ``business
entities'' since Nov. 2.
Instead, that money has gone to independent committees unrestrained by the
city's contribution law, which limits donations to $250 during mayoral
runoffs.
Backed by developers, labor unions and large corporations, these committees
have paid for fliers, phone banks and at least one television ad suggesting
that Ammiano's ideas could bankrupt the city.
As of Thursday, nine committees had spent more than $1,096,000 for Brown
since Nov. 27. Two groups supporting Ammiano spent a combined $4,500,
according to reports filed with the city and county's Ethics Commission.
The unprecedented flow of soft money is in addition to at least $297,000 that
went directly into Brown's campaign coffers and $132,000 collected by
Ammiano's campaign since the general election.
``People are expressing their support with their pocketbooks and that results
in more speech, which in my view is a good thing,'' said attorney Joe Remcho,
who represents Brown and the Democratic Party on campaign finance matters.
Remcho opened the floodgates for soft money in September. As lead attorney
for San Franciscans for Sensible Government, a political action committee
representing corporations, he persuaded a federal judge to overturn the
city's 1992 rule that committees must adhere to the same limits as campaigns.
The SFSG has spent more than $418,000 to support Brown's re-election.
By law, donations and spending by the independent committees must not be
coordinated by the candidates' campaigns. But no law prevents the groups from
coordinating with each other.
``You don't want everybody tripping over each other,'' said Robert Barnes,
one of several political consultants working for Brown's re-election. ``So
there have been several attempts to make sure everyone is doing a good solid
piece of this in their own right.''
For example, shortly after the Willie Brown Leadership PAC was founded on
Nov. 24, it transferred $150,000 to the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian and Gay
Democratic Club, which used the money for a 30-second TV ad showing an
interracial gay couple deciding to vote for Brown.
City law requires prompt disclosure of contributions gathered by committees.
But at least two of the groups - SFSG and the county Democratic Committee -
claim they are county organizations and do not have to disclose the source of
their money until January.
``That's a big stretch. San Francisco is a city and a county, not a city or a
county,'' says Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation, a
Sacramento-based nonprofit that educates voters on campaign laws.
``It is really disconcerting because voters have tried for years to clean up
elections in that city and make politicians more accountable through a
variety of reforms,'' she said. ``It's a shame that message is not getting
through.''
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
