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The 2016 California Clean Money Scorecard
(In the aftermath of the November 8 Trumpslide, here is a bit of hopeful news from the California Clean Money Campaign (CCMC). The following is an edited version of the content in the recent 14-page CCMC report, "Big Money, Big Ideas: Which Side Are You On?")
How did your legislators score on campaign finance reform bills? Voters need to know which legislators are Clean Money Champions and which side with Big Money special interests against campaign finance reform. CCMC's 2015-2016 California Clean Money Scorecard does just that.
Download the scorecard now to see how your Assemblymembers and Senators rated.
Scoring was based on seven campaign finance bills endorsed by the CCMC. The top Clean Money bills this session were AB 700—the California DISCLOSE Act (Gomez-Levine) to make political ads show who really pays for them—and SB 1107—(Allen) to legalize public financing of campaigns in California. (You can see complete descriptions of all the bills on the CCMC website at http://www.cacleanaction.org.)
This scorecard does not say anything about how “clean” a legislator's fundraising is or their voting record on other bills. But it is a good record of how strongly they support campaign finance reform.
Legislators received a perfect score of 100 if they voted Yes on all seven bills. They could score more than 100 if they authored or co-authored Clean Money bills.
These 2015-2016 Clean Money Champions all helped advance campaign finance reform in the fight against the dominance of Big Money special interests in politics in a year that saw three of the top four Clean Money bills pass—along with major progress on the landmark California DISCLOSE Act that will be back next year.
A record 74 legislators scored 100 or more.
On the other hand, 30 legislators mostly blocked reform and scored under 50. We hope that will change next year.
Without any further ado, here are the 2015-2016 Clean Money Champions and their scores:
Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Democratic Assembly Members
Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles). 140.
Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) 125
Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) 119
Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) 118
David Chiu (D-San Francisco) 115
Bill Dodd (D-Napa) 115
Richard Gordon (D-Menlo Park) 115
Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Republican Assembly Members
Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon) 104
David Hadley (R-Torrance) 104
Ling Ling Chang (R-Diamond Bar) 93
Lowest-Scoring Assembly Members
Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley): 7
Allen Travis (R-Huntington Beach): 11
Franklin Bigelow (R-Jackson): 22
Rocky Chávez (R-Oceanside): 22
Brian Dahle (R-Bieber): 22
Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach): 22
Devon Mathis (R-Visalia): 22
Jay Obernolte (R-Hesperia): 22
Marie Waldron (R-Escondido): 22
Clean Money Champions: Highest-Scoring Democratic Senators
Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) 185
Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) 123
Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) 120
Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) 113
Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) 110
Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) 110
Lowest-Scoring Senators
Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield): 0
Mike Morrell (R-Rancho Cucamonga): 11
Jeff Stone (La Quinta): 11
Joel Anderson (R-La Mesa): 22
Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado): 22
Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber): 22
This was a big year thanks to these Clean Money Champions and to the more than 100,000 citizens who signed petitions, called, or and worked to pass these Clean Money bills.
"Next year will be even bigger," predicts California Clean Money Action Fund president Trent Lange, "Together, we will create a democracy that is truly of, by, and for the people."
The California Clean Money Action Fund is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(4) organization that is the political advocacy arm of the 501(c)(3) California Clean Money Campaign. The CCMAF (3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 208, Culver City CA 90230) accepts no funding from corporations or unions.