City Council hold a joint meeting of Neighborhood & Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts & Celebration, and the Government Operations, Rules and Claims Committees to discuss different models for campaign finance reform and publicly-funded municipal elections in Cambridge

In 1998 Massachusetts voters approved by a margin of 2-1, The Clean Elections Law

which provided public financing of statewide elections with 77% of Cambridge residents voting in favor of the initiative; and In 2002, The Clean Elections Law was effectively repealed, through an amendment to the state's budget which eliminated funding for this popular initiative; and Upon enacting a public financing program in Albuquerque, NM in 2007, the total campaign expenditures of the ten elected officials in the city fell to $512,000, which was less than half of the of the more than $1.2 million spent by one mayoral candidate alone in 2005; and There exists a campaign matching fund program in New York City, NY, where only 6% of campaign funds come from special interests, compared to 69% of funds in the rest of the state; and Only 19% of Minnesotans are concerned about corruption in government, compared to 30% of Ohioans and 49% of Illinois residents, as Minnesota is the only state out of the three with a public financing program; and Publicly funded municipal elections can set a powerful precedent as one step towards nationwide campaign finance reform; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Council hold a joint meeting of Neighborhood & Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts & Celebration, and the Government Operations, Rules and Claims Committees to discuss different models for campaign finance reform and publicly-funded municipal elections in Cambridge.