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Council approves $90,000 for study of publicly funded city campaigns

By Monica Heger

The journey toward publicly owned San Jose city campaigns is under way.

The San Jose City Council unanimously approved the use of $50,000 for the elections commission to study the feasibility of publicly financed campaigns, and up to an additional $40,000 for the commission to use the services of attorney and former election commission chairman Alex Stuart.

The elections commission will provide recommendations to the council by the end of November. Aside from the commission's own ideas, it will gather public input from other parties with experience in publicly-financed elections.

"We're going to be speaking with a number of people in and outside the community who have experience in campaign finance," said Tom Mertens, the chairman of the commission.

Mertens said it will study cities that already have publicly financed campaigns and try to identify some of best practices to implement in San Jose.

The commission is made up of five members who serve four-year terms. It is a volunteer position; members are appointed by the council and must have some experience with campaign law.

Attorney April Lin Walsh, who was appointed May 16, filled a recently vacated seat on the commission.

Walsh said she was looking forward to working with the commission in developing a strategy for publicly financed campaigns.

"The purpose of the elections commission is to make sure the citizens of San Jose have a voice," she said.

The next step for the commission is to begin researching other public financing systems. Maine, Arizona and Portland all have full public financing, while San Francisco and Oakland both have partial public financing.

The commission will look for advantages and disadvantages in each system. Beginning in the summer, the commission will conduct public meetings.

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales proposed the idea for publicly funded campaigns, and it was approved at an April 18 city council meeting. Gonzales said he wanted publicly funded campaigns to restore confidence in elected officials and also to enable more diverse candidates to run for elected office.