Box declares support for Election Matching Funds cap removal

Good ethical presser to start off the real campaign season from the Stephen Box for CD 4 camp.

Matching Funds for elections is one of the few ways a regular person can begin to engage in a real campaign for City Office.

Now if Box would assume more a widely accepted professional facial hair style and get behind the wheel of an automobile during the campaign, he might get taken more seriously. We'd really like him to get taken more seriously, too.  

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2010

STEPHEN BOX COMMENDS CITY COUNCIL FOR EMBRACING ELECTION REFORM,
CHALLENGES THEM TO PARTICIPATE VOLUNTARILY

LA’s City Council moves unanimously to create ballot measure proposing removal of the cap on the Matching Funds Program Trust Fund  

Hollywood, CA - Stephen Box, candidate for City Council District 4, commends the Los Angeles City Council for its collaboration with the California Clean Money Campaign and for its efforts to reform LA’s campaign finance system, one that currently rewards well-financed incumbents while excluding grassroots candidates.

“LA’s City Council has long recognized that an election system should reward candidates with vision for the city rather than those with the largest war chests,” said Box as he walked precincts in Council District 4, “but proposing a corrective ballot measure is just talk if they aren’t willing to voluntarily campaign according to the Clean Money principles.”

It’s been five years since the City Council recognized that “A system that helps equalize the funding for well-qualified and community-supported candidates would allow candidates to spend more time talking to voters about their concerns and less time talking to campaign contributors, many of whom live outside the areas the candidates seek to represent.”

Since then there have been efforts to create a system that provides well-qualified candidates with adequate funding to mount competitive campaigns that will engage the voters and offer real choices about the leadership and direction of the city.

Fifty candidates have filed Declarations of Intent for the upcoming March 8, 2011 elections for the seven City Council seats that represent the even numbered districts, and the immediate challenge is collecting the signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot. Then comes the challenge of raising the funds necessary to mount a viable campaign.

In 2009, none of the incumbents or front runners participated in LA’s Matching Funds Program, yet the current roster of incumbents voted unanimously to pursue election reform on the upcoming ballot measure, a move that would apply restrictions to future candidates but not to them.

While the City Council engages in what some refer to as Election Reform Kabuki Theatre, the real opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to Participatory Democracy consists of voluntary participation in the City of LA’s Matching Funds Program (LAMC 24.5) which limits expenditures and requires participants to engage in sponsored debates.

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For more information, Contact: Stephen Box
City Council Candidate, District 4
Box4CityCouncil@gmail.com
(323) 864-7586
www.StephenBox4CityCouncil.comtwitter.com/Box4CC - facebook.com/Box4CC - youtube.com/Box4CC