Friday, December 05, 2003
Philadelphia City Council Passes Weak Reform
The Philly Inquirer reports here that their City Council has passed an ordinance limiting campaign contributions to $1000 from individuals and $5000 from Political Action Committees (PACs.) I guess these folks didn't learn much from our federal experience, which until recently had similar limits for federal candidates. President Bush showed it was no problem for well connected candidates to raise huge amounts of money under $1000 limits through his Pioneer operation that gave him a huge edge of candidates such as John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary. I doubt that many citizens of Philadelphia can afford to give $1000 to a city council race, so its hard to see how the new ordinance would return government to the regular citizens of the city of brotherly love. It remains to be seen whether the Mayor will approve or veto the proposal.
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The Philly Inquirer reports here that their City Council has passed an ordinance limiting campaign contributions to $1000 from individuals and $5000 from Political Action Committees (PACs.) I guess these folks didn't learn much from our federal experience, which until recently had similar limits for federal candidates. President Bush showed it was no problem for well connected candidates to raise huge amounts of money under $1000 limits through his Pioneer operation that gave him a huge edge of candidates such as John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary. I doubt that many citizens of Philadelphia can afford to give $1000 to a city council race, so its hard to see how the new ordinance would return government to the regular citizens of the city of brotherly love. It remains to be seen whether the Mayor will approve or veto the proposal.
