Aliyya Swaby Photo
Milfred, Harp at Wednesday night’s session.
Mayor Toni Harp called the city’s system for public financing a “fixture” in New Haven’s political landscape — a fixture could be simplified to make it easier for candidates to navigate and the public to understand and support.
She made that remark at City Hall Wednesday night to the board of that public-financing agency — the Democracy Fund — and to neighbors interested in upping local civic engagement.
The only local public financing system in the state, the New Haven Democracy Fund grants matching public money to mayoral candidates who agree to restrictions on how their campaign money is raised and spent. Candidates must collect 200 donations from local voters of at least $10, agree to avoid donations from political action committees and companies, and cap individual donations at $370, not $1,000.
The Fund provides matching funds up to $125,000. A candidate may not contribute more than $19,000 of his or her personal funds.
Harp did not opt into the program during her contested 2013 election. At the time, she criticized her main opponent for using public funds during the primaries, then registering as an independent for the general election without clean-election restrictions.
Wednesday night Harp called the Democracy Fund an important part of democratic participation in the city. “Public campaign financing opens up the process of running for office for candidates who otherwise may not have had the wherewithal to do that,” she said.
Fund Chair Jared Milfred asked her what she would change about the program.
“The way in which money flows is complex,” she said, and could be simplified to draw in more candidates.
The city’s Board of Alders currently finances the Democracy Fund. Harp said other cities need resources for the matching money in order to implement public financing systems. “There has to be a way to talk about these things that make people believe it’s worth paying for,” she said.
Jacob Wasserman, Ward 1 Democratic co-chair, asked how to preserve that funding in New Haven so that a change in politics would not wipe it from the city’s budget.
Harp said the key is “marketing democracy” to emphasize the importance of unanimous participation.
Milfred asked if it could be financially feasible to include other local positions in the Democracy Fund, such as alder and city clerk.
Harp said that depends on how and when that addition were rolled out, and whether the extra funding is needed urgently for another program.
Leaders of civic organizations weighed in at the meeting on public financing’s use in getting more people to the polls in local elections.
Evan Preston, state director of nonprofit Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (ConnPIRG), said that in his grassroots organizing among young people across the state, they often bring up public campaign financing.
Eze (center): Broaden program for alder elections.
Ugonna Eze, who ran for Ward 1 alder in November as a Republican, said he would have liked to use public financing for his campaign. “We spent a lot of time trying to raise money against the incumbent,” time that could have been better spent campaigning, he said. “How do we decrease the barrier to make it easier to get people involved?”
Some alders have been less excited about the idea of public financing for their campaigns, because it enables challengers to oppose them, Milfred said. (Alders opposed to public financing for their races have questioned whether the city can afford it, or whether it’s necessary for low-budget campaigns.)