(Comcast Intro)
Bringing you the news and information you need from the people making a difference. This is Comcast Newsmakers.

(Tony Ventrella)
Welcome back, this is Comcast Newsmakers. We’re at the Northwest African American Museum, the old Coleman School building in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle, I’m Tony Ventralla, thanks for being with us today. We’re going to talk a little about campaign reform or campaign public financing with Bob Ferguson from the King County Council District 1. Bob welcome again.

(Bob Ferguson)
Thanks, thanks for having me.

(Tony)
Now the door has been open by the state legislature. What have they done to open the door for other jurisdictions?

(Bob)
In this most recent session the Washington State Legislature passed a law that allows local jurisdictions, like cities or counties, to enact campaign finance reform in which they come up with a system by which people running for office can utilize public funds to run for office. But any such system would have to be approved by the voters of that jurisdiction before it’s implemented.

(Tony)
So if at the County level, I shouldn’t say if because something’s going to happen at the county level.

(Bob)
Well, it’s possible. Myself and Councilmember Dow Constantine, another member of the County Council have introduced legislation to start the process of examining different options. Looking at what other states and jurisdictions do for campaign financing and then ultimately, yes, I want to bring forward a proposal to bring this before the voters of King County.

(Tony)
Now, of course, as a King County Councilmember, as is Dow, this would affect county wide elections only, not statewide.

(Bob)
That’s exactly right, we’d be dealing just with County elections. That could be just the King County Council district races or we can include, for example, County executive, County assessor, but county offices only for our legislation.

(Tony)
Now, nothings done yet, but what is the reason behind this. I know you’re trying to level the playing field but explain what that means. What percentages, for example, of incumbents normally get reelected?

(Bob)
On the King County Council, it’s overwhelming. It’s very rare for a incumbent to get defeated and I’ll tell you why. Now that I’m an incumbent, I benefit from the system. I can raise large sums of money that I could only dream about when I first ran for office. It’s very difficult for campaigns to compete with an incumbent that already has so many advantages, if you tack on a huge many advantage as well. So one of the goals of this is to level the playing field. Another benefit is I can spend less time having to raise money and can spend more time going out and talking to voters and that’s really important for our democracy

(Tony)
Now this would not necessarily limit another person from going out and raising as much money as he or she wants.

(Bob)
That’s right, the system when you look across other jurisdiction are generally optional. Someone can chose whether they want to use this system or not. That’s right.

(Tony)
Now, lets take an example. Say, for example, the system’s in place in King County. I’m running for your council seat, which is not going to happen because I don’t like wearing a tie.
You’re able to—totally made up figures here, you raise $200,000 and with a bunch of signatures I raise my 75,000. What happens the County has to give me that money to equal the amount that you raised.

(Bob)
Each system in different states is different, but let me give you an example. What’s quite common is -- they would say to you, Tony, you can either raise your own money privately or you can go through the public system in which case, for example, you need 500 people to give you 5 dollar donations. You have to meet a certain threshold of people in you district who are supportive of your campaign to qualify. So, let’s say the amount you qualify for is $75,000 to run a competitive campaign. What many jurisdictions do, if I’ve raised 200,000, is they then match the 75 to the 200 so it’s a perfectly level playing field. This also has the benefit of discouraging me from raising a whole bunch of money because I know you’re going to get the same amount and so it’s a level playing field at whatever that amount is.

(Tony)
Well, I’ll tell you something Bob, I have newfound respect for you. I liked you in the first place but here’s a guy who somewhere down the road could get voted out of office because he enacted legislation allowing someone to do that.

(Bob)
When I first ran for office, my opponent raised over $200,000 and I was vastly outspent, but I did a doorbelling campaign and talked to voters, that got me into office. But the system will never change and be more equitable unless the people who benefit from the system are willing to change it. So I agree it’s not easy but I just fill it’s important that we have a more vibrant democracy if people are out there knocking on doors, talking to voters and it’s a level playing field. Because the issues that we deal with are so important, it’s important to have a choice and this helps that choice.

(Tony)
Well, I appreciate it. At least it will get some dialogue going. Bob thank you for being here, it’s a great topic very interesting.

(Bob)
Thanks Tony.

(Tony)
Thank you for joining us on Newsmakers, I’m Tony Ventrella. See you next time.