Ethics chair renews push for public financing of campaigns, but just for City Council contests

Eighteen months ago, the City Council was told public funding for Chicago elections would cost $66.8 million over four years — but also that the return on that investment would be huge.

It would prevent a “handful of big-money donors” from “drowning out” the voices of everyday people, a reform advocate said when addressing the Council’s Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight in January 2023.

The hefty up-front price tag may be why government reformers and their Council champion are starting small, with an optional and less expensive public financing program confined to campaigns for the Council's 50 seats.

Ald. Matt Martin (47th), chair of the Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight, has introduced a sweeping ordinance aimed at beginning the formidable task of getting the big money out of Chicago politics — but at taxpayers’ expense.

It would establish what Martin calls a “Chicago Fair Elections Program” that essentially amounts to public financing of Council campaigns.

The 23-page ordinance lays out a detailed blueprint for how public financing would work in Chicago, including what Council candidates would need do to qualify for matching funds and how much money they would receive in return.

The ordinance doesn’t say how the city would pay for the program — only that the “Fair Elections Fund” would receive “not less than one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of the annual city budget,” adjusted annually to match the consumer price index.

That would amount to $16.77 million of Johnson’s $16.77 billion 2024 budget — $67.08 million over four years.

Matching funds would be dispersed to eligible candidates who “opt in” at a maximum rate of $150,000-per-election cycle.

The compensation includes:

• $12 in public funds for each $1 in qualified contributions for the first $25 received that election cycle from each qualified contributor.

• $9 in public matching funds for each $1 in qualified contributions for amounts in excess of $25 per qualified contributor.

• A base payment of $50,000 for each covered office, paid in two installments — half within five days of being certified as a participating candidate, the rest within five days of qualifying for the ballot.

To qualify for public matching funds, candidates would be required to receive “no less than $17,500 from at least 100 qualified contributions” with at least 60 of those 100 coming from “qualified contributors who reside in the ward” where the candidate is running.

Qualifying candidates also would have to participate in “no fewer than two nonpartisan, pre-election debates" and provide the five-member Fair Elections Commission with itemized statements of contributions and expenditures.

Contributions must be limited to $500 per election from individuals and $12,000 per election from political committees and “membership organizations.” Canndidates could contribute no more than $5,000 per election cycle from personal funds.

Martin wouldn't discuss the ordinance Monday, unwilling to upstage the news conference set for Tuesday. But sources said he views the proposal as a “starting point” for negotiations with organized labor and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“We’re trying to keep the costs as modest as possible and set up a program that’s meant to succeed,” said a source familiar with Martin’s ordinance.

Confining public financing to Council campaigns could reduce the cost to no more than $10 million over four years, the source said.

Asked last week why he opposed a Martin-sponsored ordinance that would penalize lobbyists donating to mayoral campaigns in defiance of a 2011 executive order, Johnson said it was time to stop “nibbling around the edges” of reform.

“If the goal is to eradicate the proclivity of corruption, then let’s get at that. ... Let’s all work together for public financing,” the mayor told reporters after the Council meeting. "I challenge the Ethics Board to join me in this effort. ... Let’s lead the way for the entire country,”

Why not call Johnson’s bluff by proposing a more sweeping ordinance that includes mayoral campaigns?

“The mayor’s race is different,” said a source close to Martin. “The mayor’s race has long been especially expensive. Let’s start modest and see how it goes."

At Tuesday's news conference, Martin will be joined by groups including Reform for Illinois, whose executive director, Alisa Kaplan, testified at that 2023 hearing.

"Fair elections ... empower candidates and elected officials to pay more attention to the constituents who need the most instead of those who can pay the most, she said that day.