May 25, 2009

HI tries public campaign financing

Posted in Election reform, Elections, public campaign financing, voter owned elections tagged Elections, public campaign financing, voter owned elections at 3:32 pm by bluebanshee

The Aloha state’s first publicly funded elections will be tested on the Big Island next year.  Hawaii will join jurisdictions throughout the U.S. that are instituting the public financing option.

Candidates for city council will need to make a decision by February 1, 2010 if they wish to participate.  Meanwhile, there is a lot of work to do in developing rules and procedures. http://www.pddnet.com/news-ap-big-island-testing-publicly-funding-elections-052409/

The state Campaign Spending Commission must comply with the law by hiring and training new staff, creating an online filing system, creating a candidate’s guide, providing training classes and developing an independent and nonpartisan review committee for the funding program.

“We have a long way to go,” said commission Executive Director Barbara Wong. “There’s a lot of questions that need to be asked as we’ve gone through the law.” Read the rest of this entry »

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