At the City Council meeting on Sept. 16, a majority of the City Council voted to thwart the will of over 8,500 voters who signed a petition to put a municipal Clean Elections measure on the ballot. They voted 7-2 to not move this measure forward for a vote by the people.

Rather than listen to the people, who want to reduce the influence of big money on politics, the City Council listened to the ill-considered and cynical opinion of the city’s attorney and decided that the people who signed the petition do not have the right to formulate a law by which they are governed. The law these petitioners wanted to put on the ballot would create public funding for candidates running for municipal office, allowing people without deep pockets and connections to campaign for office.

To represent the common interests of the citizens of Portland to formulate the laws by which they are governed and to bring the Clean Elections initiative to a vote, Fair Elections Portland, the organization that collected the signatures, has recently brought a lawsuit against the city. This lawsuit has become the only action that Fair Elections Portland and the signers of the petition can take to force the city to put the Clean Elections initiative on the ballot.

We believe the Superior Court will make a judgment in favor of the people of Portland versus the Portland City Council and support the right of citizens to vote to fund publicly financed municipal elections.

Scott Vonnegut

Portland