Tomorrow, the city council decides whether to reconsider an ordinance they passed last week, which would give a publicly financed candidate in a special election—in this case, Jim Middaugh, running for Erik Sten’s vacated seat—the same amount of funds for a runoff as a candidate in a regular election would get. As it stands now, Middaugh would get $200,000 if he made it through the primary. Commissioner Randy Leonard and Mayor Tom Potter would like to reconsider that idea, and perhaps cap the funding closer to $60K or $66K. (I’ll likely be doing some liveblogging tomorrow, as it’s sure to be a lively debate.)

Today, two influential groups weighed in. First, the Citizen Campaign Commission chair, Leslie Hildula, summed up that body’s thoughts in a letter to the mayor’s office:

Hi Kyle,

[T]hank you for calling me this morning. As I mentioned on the telephone, the CC Commissioners discussed the Mayor’s memo and still agreed that the best option is to stay the course already set for this election. Our goal remains to provide enough resources to a campaign to get their message out. It is our current opinion that our previous recommendation best accomplishes that. Regardless of timeframe, a campaign for a city-wide seat has to reach a lot of voters and a candidate should be able to establish a budget and a strategy.

As a Commission, we do not want to be involved in campaign strategies, nor do we want to change the rules of a campaign in mid-race. Candidates who choose not to run with public funds may now be realizing that there may be an advantage to spending one’s time reaching out to voters rather than to wealthy contributers but either way it’s clear that any successful candidate will have to work hard at reaching out to the citizens of Portland.

As you know, we have discussed public campaign finance provisions for special elections but found no easy solutions. We intend to study this race and make recommendations to City Council as we have in the past.

Good luck with your deliberations and please feel free to contact me again.

Best Regards,

—-Leslie Hildula

After the cut, check out the letter from the League of Women Voters of Portland, who back up the CCC’s position.

March 11, 2008

TO: Mayor Tom Potter
Commissioner Sam Adams
Commissioner Randy Leonard
Commissioner Dan Saltzman
Commissioner Erik Sten

CC: Auditor Gary Blackmer
Citizen Campaign Commission Chair Leslie Hildula

FROM: League of Women Voters of Portland
Carol Cushman, president
Debbie Aiona, action chair

RE: Public Financing Law and the 2008 Special Election

The League of Women Voters of Portland strongly supports the city’s public finance campaign law and places a high priority on its continued success. Any changes to the program should be made with great thought and careful consideration. We think the Citizen Campaign Commission’s recommendation that the upcoming special election to fill Commissioner Sten’s office be treated the same as a regular election was the right one. Council took the prudent approach when it voted to follow the commission’s advice. We urge you to stand by your decision.

Regardless of the short timeline in a special election, public financed and traditional candidates still need to reach the same number of voters. Without a number of high interest candidates and issues on the ballot, it may take more work to engage voters, especially in July. These factors and others can be analyzed after the election when the commission will have the time to study the issues carefully and present to council recommendations for adding special elections provisions to the ordinance.