City Council hold a joint meeting of Neighborhood & Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts & Celebration, and the …

How it started

Proposed by Councillors Mazen, Cheung, and Carlone and Vice Mayor Devereux — a statement of the Council’s position, not a request for action.

What happened

✅ Adopted after amendments — the Council approved a revised version (Order adopted as amended · Jun 20, 2016)

Present and voting at this meeting (8)

Craig A. Kelley
Dennis Carlone
E. Denise Simmons
Jan Devereux
Leland Cheung
Marc McGovern
Nadeem Mazen
Timothy J. Toomey

Adopted by voice vote. A voice vote records the outcome, not individual positions — no member's yes or no is on the record (though a member can ask to be recorded in the negative in the minutes). Showing the members who cast recorded votes at this meeting. Rule 6 requires a roll call for spending over $50 or on any member's request; state law requires one for every vote when a member participates remotely. · photos: City of Cambridge

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The document Agenda item attachment · 2 pages

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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with 77% of Cambridge residents voting in favor of the initiative; and In 2002, The Clean Elections Law was effectively repealed, through an amendment to the state's budget which eliminated funding for this popular initiative; and Upon enacting a public financing program in Albuquerque,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.