Election Campaigns. Contributions and Spending Limits. Public Financing. Disclosures. Initiative Statute.
	Argument in Favor of Proposition 25

Arguments on this page are the opinions of the authors and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency.

WHY DO WE NEED PROPOSITION 25?

• California is one of only six states with ABSOLUTELY NO LIMITS on the source or size of political contributions. Candidates can receive checks for $1 MILLION or even more! Our government has been corrupted by BIG MONEY.
• Last election, California gambling casinos and Nevada gambling casinos spent over ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS ($100,000,000.00) fighting for control of organized gambling in California--casinos gave millions to Democrats and millions to Republicans. Government should be of the people, by the people, and for the people, NOT OF THE GAMBLING CASINOS, BY THE GAMBLING CASINOS, and FOR THE GAMBLING CASINOS.
• Public figures get huge cash payments to endorse or oppose campaigns. Last election, a consumer advocate opposed the utility rate-cut initiative and got over $160,000 from utility companies; a former state schools official opposed the tobacco tax initiative and got $90,000 from tobacco companies. We often don't find out about such payments until after the election.

WHAT WILL PROPOSITION 25 DO?

• Prohibits paying people to vote or not vote.
• Requires immediate Internet disclosure of political contributions of $1,000 or more.
• Requires immediate Internet disclosure of television, radio, print, or mail advertisements.
• Provides strict contribution limits of $5000 or less, limits which will survive any legal challenge.
• Bans corporate contributions to candidates, just like federal law has for almost 100 years.
• Provides free television and radio time to statewide campaigns which agree to limit spending.
• Requires individuals in advertisements to disclose whether they are being paid by a campaign or its major donors.
• Requires statewide campaigns which exceed voluntary spending limits to disclose their spending total in all advertisements.
• Prevents endless fundraising by elected officials while they're voting on important bills--statewide candidates can't begin fundraising until one year before their primary, legislative candidates six months before their primary.
• Restricts "soft money," stopping its unlimited use for electronic media or candidate advertisements.

WHAT WILL PROPOSITION 25 COST?

• The initiative limits public funding to just ONE DOLLAR EACH YEAR PER CALIFORNIA TAXPAYER. It's worth spending a dollar a year to BUY BACK OUR GOVERNMENT from special interests which control it!
• Our politicians should answer to taxpayers not gambling casinos and tobacco companies.
• Political reform will SAVE taxpayers and consumers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS by limiting tax breaks and sweetheart deals for big campaign contributors.

HOW WILL PROPOSITION 25 CLOSE LOOPHOLES AND LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD?

• Under Section 85309, ALL subsidiaries of a business and ALL locals of a union are treated as one donor for contribution limit purposes; this prevents different subsidiaries and locals from EACH giving maximum contributions.
• Section 89519 forces candidates to liquidate their campaign war chests after every election, meaning all candidates start even after every vote.

WHO SUPPORTS PROPOSITION 25?

• A coalition of Democrats, Republicans, third party members, and independents who want to stop corruption, including Republican Senator John McCain and California Common Cause.

WHO OPPOSES PROPOSITION 25?

• Special interests who want to keep control of OUR government.

VOTE YES ON 25.

JAMES K. KNOX
Executive Director, California Common Cause

RON UNZ
Chairman, Voters Rights 2000--Yes on 25

TONY MILLER
Former Acting Secretary of State

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