Los Angeles' CityWatch examines the revived interest in Clean Elections public financing for municipal races in LA's City Hall, noting recent outreach efforts designed to elicit input from interested parties on the potential of bringing such a program to the city.

California Clean Money is heading up education efforts around a Clean Elections proposal:

Feedback gathered at the neighborhood council workshops conducted by volunteers from the California Clean Money campaign will be collated and sent to the city council’s Rules and Elections Committee. Barring unforeseen developments, the full city council will be debating the issue later this year, or early next year. Because a “clean money” system requires a change to the city charter, it must be put before the voters, and the soonest that could happen would be at the June, 2009, municipal election.


The neighborhood council workshops give stakeholders a unique opportunity to learn how clean money systems work in other areas and how one might work in Los Angeles. Too often in the past, the city council has bypassed the neighborhood councils when it suits them, but in this case it is actually asking for input.