Politics & Government
Campaign Finance in California Assembly D21
Names, numbers and interesting tidbits from the campaign financial reports
I am running for CA State Assembly D21 on a platform of sustainability in air, water, healthcare and housing. However, getting the message out as a third-party candidate is a challenge. As noted by GoodParty.org money has corrupted both major parties, but the reality is that without money getting the message out is very hard.
For example, I support universal healthcare which even before our current pandemic was supported by a majority of residents and is not only financially cheaper than our current insurance-based system but actually saves money by removing the profiteering from the system and restoring those dollars to giving the care necessary to keep people well and healthy.
Moreover, like over 60% of CA residents and unlike the other candidates in this race, I am also an advocate for truly affordable housing for all but NOT SB9 type developer giveaways that claim to do that while in fact just increasing gentrification and displacement. Much of our population is priced out of housing, can't get private financing, and can't afford the expensive housing developers like to build so maybe what we need is completely different thinking including repealing SB9, stopping displacement and gentrification.
Find out what's happening in Redwood City-Woodsidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Getting funding and support however is a challenge. So, on the one hand as the candidate with the least amount of cash, I would really like to change the system to have publicly funded elections. As noted on Wikipedia that means an election which is funded with money collected through taxes. In the US the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) note that public financing of campaigns even though used in some states but not California remains the least-used method of regulating money in elections, partly due to the result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo. In that decision, the Court struck down a provision of the Federal Election Commission mandating public financing for presidential elections.
Find out what's happening in Redwood City-Woodsidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
But on the other hand, the reality of publicly funded elections is either the elimination or further handicapping of third-party candidates as it sometimes has issues determining whether or not a candidate is viable and entitled to support based on whether a candidate has received a certain amount of outside contributions or has a certain pre-determined number of public endorsements from current city, state or federal elected officials.
California does have contribution limits (for Assembly races: individuals $4900 and small contributor committees $9700) and a voluntary expenditure ceiling (for Assembly races: primary $649,000 and general $1,135,000) but they are so high that they do not do anything to place all candidates on an equal funding base. This results in candidates selling themselves to organizations like the Teachers Union, Nurses Association, the Healthcare workers unions, and so forth. (See details below.)
So what can you do?
Donate directly at: https://donorbox.org/elect-tania-sole-for-ca-assembly-d22-2
Upvote my campaign at: https://goodparty.org/candidate/Tania-Sol%C3%A9/59
Learn more at my campaign website at www.taniasole.com
And most importantly don’t forget to vote this primary season. California has an open primary process which means that the top two vote getters regardless of party move on to the general election in November. Ballots begin going out soon. Last day to vote June 7th!
To get a sense of the disparities see below some short takeaways from the recent reports.
JAMES COLEMAN - Democrat
SUMMARY INFORMATION - COLEMAN FOR STATE ASSEMBLY 2022; JAMES (ID# 1442697)
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $118,533.09
EXPENDITURES FROM THIS PERIOD $82,266.31
TOTAL EXPENDITURES 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $86,766.31
ENDING CASH $83,222.80
Top contributors:
Tie:
SCA STATE COUNCIL OF SERVICE EMPLOYEES $9700
EIU UNITED HEALTHCARE WORKERS WEST POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $9700
For full detail: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/...
Expenses details:
Interesting tidbit: Redwood City Councilmember Lissette Espinoza, who endorsed the candidate, paid total of $8100 in campaign workers salaries.
GISELLE HALE - Democrat
SUMMARY INFORMATION - HALE FOR ASSEMBLY 2022; GISELLE (ID# 1442840)
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $340,377.00
EXPENDITURES FROM THIS PERIOD $88,413.94
TOTAL EXPENDITURES 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $91,733.94
ENDING CASH $458,129.69
Top Contributor:
CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION/ASSOCIATION FOR BETTER CITIZENSHIP SMALL CONTRIBUTOR COMMITTEE $9700
For more detail see: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1442840&view=received&psort=AMOUNT
Expenses: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1442840&view=expenditures
Interesting Tidbit: Political Data Inc, the company the candidate works for, paid $10,800
DIANE PAPAN - Democrat
SUMMARY INFORMATION - PAPAN FOR ASSEMBLY 2022 (ID# 1442617)
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $261,567.00
EXPENDITURES FROM THIS PERIOD $137,775.35
TOTAL EXPENDITURES 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $146,320.35
ENDING CASH $264,349.26
Top Contributor:
CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION PAC (CNA-PAC) SMALL CONTRIBUTOR COMMITTEE $7200
For more detail: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1442617&view=received&psort=AMOUNT
Expenses detail: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1442617&view=expenditures
Interesting tidbit – Godbe Corporation – research paid $35,475
TANIA SOLE – Green Party/Good Party/Peace and Freedom Party
SUMMARY INFORMATION - SOLE FOR ASSEMBLY 2022; ELECT TANIA (ID# 1445901)
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $12,125.00
EXPENDITURES FROM THIS PERIOD $11,030.00
TOTAL EXPENDITURES 1/1/2022 - 04/23/2022 $11,030.00
ENDING CASH $1,095.00
Top Contributor:
Julie Pardini $4600
For more detail: https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1445901&view=received&psort=AMOUNT
Interesting tidbit: only candidate to also contribute to her own campaign
While there are three other candidates, online information is not yet available. If it does become available it might be at the following three links:
https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1446335
https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1445039
https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1445963
