California Politicians Could Be Forced to Wear NASCAR-Style Logos Identifying Their Donors

If politics make for strange bedfellows, then so does political satire.

An idea long promoted by Dead Kennedys punker Jello Biafra and advocated by wrestler turned Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has found an unlikely champion in the form of a wealthy San Diego conservative.

If Jon Cox gets his way, California state legislators will don stickers or badges identifying their biggest political donors. Picture the state capitol overrun with NASCAR drivers. The idea isn’t so far-fetched. The politician’s dress code is part of a ballot initiative cleared for signature gathering. Bankrolled by Cox to the tune of $1 million, professional signature collectors are well on their way to getting the measure on the ballot, Cox maintains.

The initiative needs signatures of support from 365,880 registered voters to get on the November ballot. Cox thinks it’s a shoe-in. He also thinks voters will love it.

“Who is going to vote against it, lobbyists? Lobbyists and fundraisers are the only ones who are going to vote against it,” Cox insists.

The proposed measure reads, “When providing testimony or participating in any vote of a State legislative committee or subcommittee, or any rollcall vote on the floor of the Senate or Assembly, every elected state officer shall display on his or her person the names of the persons who have made the ten highest cumulative contributions to the officer's controlled committee(s).”

For Cox, the measure is about getting corruption out of California government. Cox said he learned about corruption in politics as a kid watching his mother, a Chicago schoolteacher frequently brought to tears by an unqualified school principal appointed to the position by a city alderman.

“Corruption isn’t just stealing money,” said Cox. "It’s when political influence dictates decisions instead of doing the right thing.”

An attorney who made his money in land development, Cox is also a self-avowed political junky. He had hoped to get support for the measure from the two presidential candidates who don’t have special interest political action committees supporting their campaigns. However, neither the Donald Trump nor Bernie Sanders campaign has responded to him.

“I still vote. My wife wants to know why. I believe it’s my duty. I vote, but I don’t think my vote matters in Sacramento.”

Cox holds no illusions that the measure will remove big money influence from state politics, but he does think it will embarrass state leaders who allow donors to have undue influence on their decisions.

“The is not going to change anything, said Cox. “People who have criticized it by saying it wouldn’t make a difference are right, but that is not the point. The point is to ridicule an absurd system that on any planet or solar system would be considered the definition of corruption, but in California it is business as usual."

However, not everyone thinks Californians will even get the chance to make elected officials the butt of the joke.

Timothy Zick, a law professor at the College of William and Mary, told U.S. News and Report the measure likely runs afoul of the First Amendment protection against compulsory speech.

“Politicians do not shed their free speech rights when they take office,” said Zick. “Absent compelling justification, government cannot compel speakers to convey particular viewpoints or subject matters against their will.”

Photo courtesy of California Is Not For Sale