Portland's second try at having taxpayers pay for political campaigns appears to be a go -- without voters getting a say first.
The Portland City Council gave its blessing Wednesday to a system that would use public money to match private cash raised by candidates for city office who agree to limit fundraising and spending. In all, the system could cost as much as $2.4 million per election cycle.
City commissioners voted 3-1 to approve a series of administrative changes to the plan, first raised by Commissioner Amanda Fritz in September. Commissioner Dan Saltzman voted no, with Nick Fish absent to emcee former Gov. Barbara Roberts' 80th birthday party.
A final vote is now expected Dec. 14. The system would be available for candidates in 2019, in time for elections in 2020.
"It's a really good day," Fritz said. "It's going to open things up, and that's what we need."
The breakthrough marks a victory for Fritz, who rode the city's previous campaign finance system to office in 2008 and who also spent months this year pushing for a revival. It also appears to end a debate on the council on whether voters would decide on the new system before it launches.
It's also a victory for more than 30 community organizations that supported the proposal, including Common Cause Oregon, a government accountability nonprofit.
Establishing a public campaign finance system would help open elected city positions to a larger pool of candidates who otherwise wouldn't have have the funds or connections to compete, said Common Cause Executive Director Kate Titus.
Saltzman proposed an amendment on Fish's behalf to put the proposal before voters in May 2017, but the council rejected the amendment by 3-1. Saltzman, the lone yes vote, cited public votes on the city's arts tax and recently approved gas tax.
"We're better when we allow our voters to affect major changes that will affect them in their pocketbooks," Saltzman said. "I do feel it would be stronger and stand the test of time and all sorts of other challenges."
Voters narrowly rejected the city's last system in 2010, by less than a percentage point, amid concerns about public spending in a recession and a notable case in which one candidate for city council misspent her funding.
The Portland Business Alliance opposed the plan. The city faces a housing crisis and other areas that need resources, said Marion Haynes, the group's vice president of government relations and economic development.
Haynes said the business group's concerns lie with employees' interests as voters and not in maintaining corporate influence on campaigns. The group also criticized the lack of voter support.
To qualify for the new system, candidates must limit their private campaign contributions to $20,000 during the primary election and $20,000 in the general election. They must cap individual contributions at $250.
Candidates would still be encouraged to raise private funding, and make the voter contacts that come with those calls, by offering a a 6-to-1 match for the first $50 of any private contribution. That means just a $50 contribution would provide a candidate with $350.
Portland's past system provided qualifying candidates with a total of $350,000 for city commissioner races or $450,000 for mayoral races. That system also helped former Commissioner Erik Sten win re-election. Sten had touted the program as a way to inspire national campaign finance reform.
Fritz's new system would establish a Public Election Fund, which could draw up to 0.2 percent of the city's general fund.
The funds would be used primarily to finance campaigns for city office -- but they would not be limited to that use. City Council could withdraw, transfer or use money for other purposes, but would have to pay interest on the amount taken until it was returned.
The director of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement will manage the fund. An earlier version of the ordinance gave the task to the city's independently elected auditor, but Auditor Mary Hull Caballero refused, saying her office lacked the time and resources to adequately oversee the program.
Hull Caballero also said the plan would also pose a conflict of interest for the commissioner in charge of the neighborhood office. For now, that's Fritz, although that could change come January after Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler hands out bureau assignments.
The council addressed this conflict in Wednesday's amendments by requiring all administrative changes be brought before the entire City Council. The amendments also give the mayor power to assign the elections program to another commissioner in elections when the commissioner overseeing the neighborhood office is up for election.
Most changes will go before the Open and Accountable Elections Oversight Board.
Local jurisdictions across the country have adopted similar campaign finance systems, according to the ordinance.
This includes local governments in West Virginia, Vermont, Texas, Rhode Island, New Mexico, New Jersey, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Hawaii, Florida, Connecticut, Colorado, California and Arizona. The City of New York has had a small donor campaign finance system since 1988.