Fioretta: Prop. 4 could level playing field with public financing in Santa Clara

On Sept. 30, San José Spotlight published an op-ed by Arteaga Food Center owner Lupe Lopez.  In it she complained that a political action committee (PAC) controlled by the owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team is attempting to buy a Santa Clara City Council seat by making a campaign contribution of more than $418,000 to one of the candidates. Thank you to Ms. Lopez for bringing this situation to a broader audience.

Whatever your political views are, the size and source of this donation should cause concern.

The 49ers have an interest in who sits on the city council with where their stadium is located. The city council has an interest in regulating the stadium for the benefit of the entire city. The city’s residents have an interest in a city council that works for them. Yet can anyone believe that the candidate receiving such a large contribution won’t be influenced by it in favor of the 49ers?

Unfortunately, huge donations from special interests are nothing new. Since 2020, more than $1 billion has been spent on state candidates in California alone. Voters don’t like this. A poll done in May-June 2024 found 81% of voters believe big money campaign contributors have too much influence over elected officials.

However, next month voters have the chance to empower voters and good candidates who lack the financial resources or connections to wealth to raise campaign cash. Proposition 4, the California Fair Elections Act, will allow public funding of campaigns for elected office.

Currently, California is the only state to prohibit public campaign financing. Prop. 4 would legalize it, require specific safeguards so public money is properly spent and give every California community the same freedom to pass small donor public financing programs that communities have in every other state.

Public campaign funding is neither new nor untested. Fourteen states and 26 local governments have some form of public funding and it has made an impact.

In New York City, matching funds helped elect Mayor Zohran Mamdani despite $40 million spent against his mayoral bid. In Seattle’s 2019 city council races, five of seven candidates used public financing and won despite an Amazon-backed PAC spending nearly $1.3 million supporting the opponents of four of them. Seattle recently renewed its democracy voucher campaign finance program after eight years of experience. And in Los Angeles public funding has resulted in more diverse candidates.

Prop. 4 is endorsed by numerous local, state and national organizations, including the League of Women Voters of California, California Nurses Association, California Federation of Teachers, ACLU California and California Environmental Voters, to name a few.

Let’s pass Proposition 4 to give candidates without deep pockets or deep pocketed friends a fighting chance in situations like the Santa Clara City Council District 2 contest. Because elections should be won, not bought.

John Fioretta is a San Jose resident.