'H' For Honesty on March 8?

Let’s say you’re all set to go the polls tomorrow and swirling somewhere in your mind is this question: If I were to vote for or against just one of the eight propositions on the ballot, which one should it be?

Eagle Rock Patch has this advice: Consider Measure H—not least because “H” stands for “Honesty” in governance.

In a nutshell, Measure H is aimed at changing the way election campaigns are financed so that instead of spending time fundraising for their next campaign, politicians can focus on addressing key challenges before the city.

For CD 14 voters, Measure H has a layer of added significance: The proposition was proposed in the City Council last November by as part of what he calls the Los Angeles Voters’ Bill of Rights, a four-point charter that includes good government reforms to increase voter participation.

At the monthly board meeting of the last week, board members heard a representative of California Common Cause, a nonprofit group whose mission is to promote greater government accountability and transparency, make a compelling case for Measure H.

The ballot measure, explained Anjuli Kronheim, L.A. organizer for California Common Cause, seeks specifically to lifts the maximum balance in the campaign finance trust fund, and slowly move to a full public financing option, while preventing city contractors considering or actually making bids that need City Council approval from appearing to buy special favors through campaign contributions of $100,000 or more to Council candidates.

The City currently offers a 1 to 1 match in public funds to candidates who choose the public financing system. The matching funds apply to small contributions of up to $250 that candidates get from within the district. For its part, the City matches the contributions by drawing from a campaign finance trust fund that has a cap of $12 million. Kronheim told the ERNC board that Common Cause wants to raise the ratio of public matching funds to potentially as high as 1:6 to incentivize candidates directly and decrease the role of special interests in politics.

The reason Common Cause was appealing directly to the ERNC was that “we want to let as many people as possible know about Measure H,” Kronheim explained, adding that as stakeholders in the community, the neighborhood council is in a unique position to transmit the message.

Another key reason for the appeal was that March 8 is likely to be a “very low information and low-turnout election,” based on the fact that “less than 1 percent people voted by mail—usually it’s 5 percent,” Kronheim said.

Critics of Measure H complain that even with a campaign finance trust fund that might be half-a-dozen times larger than the existing fund, which is capped at $12 million, the bill doesn’t go far enough.

“But political experts know that even this small step forward is critical to getting Los Angeles, California and the United States closer to a system of fair elections,” Kronheim said, adding: “We can’t do nothing—and we can’t maintain the status quo. The solution? Measure H on March 8.”

For more information about how Measure H can limit the impact of so-called pay-to-play politics, read the Los Angeles Times’ recent endorsement of the bill. And then read about the nuances of the measure in this .