Which Side Are You On?

2013-2014 California

Clean MoneyScorecard

A review of legislators’ votes for campaign finance reform by the

California Clean Money Action Fund

The Clean Money Scorecard for the 2013-2014 SessionHolding Legislators Accountable for Campaign Finance Votes

Big Money special interests have dominated California for far too long. Although California has some of the strongest campaign finance laws in the country, they are in dire need of updating. New laws are needed because voters’ voices are drowned out by billions of dollars spent by special interests. A new era of unlimited spending by corporations, unions, and billionaires has been unleashed across the nation by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. This spending is corrupting our democracy and can be considered a form of legalized bribery.

Good government organizations like the California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, California Voter Foundation, and the League of Women Voters of California regularly work with thoughtful legislators to propose strong new bills to improve campaign disclosure and to lessen the dominance of Big Money in California politics. Campaign finance bills are also proposed by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission and other organizations that recognize the damage caused by our broken campaign finance system.

Unfortunately, such bills are often opposed by the exact Big Money special interests whose undue influence they are meant to curb. Many legislators have received thousands of dollars or more in campaign contributions from these interests. Even legislators who haven’t received money have reason to fear the huge amounts special interests will spend against them if they don’t agree to lobbyists’ demands. This climate makes it very difficult to pass strong campaign finance laws.

Sunlight Is the Best DisinfectantThat’s why the California Clean Money Action Fund, the 501(c)(4) political advocacy arm of the California Clean Money Campaign, produces the California Clean Money Scorecard which we issue at the end of every legislative session. This year’s scorecard is our second.

Voters need to know which legislators are Clean Money champions ― the strongest advocates for the Big Idea that regular voters should have more information and power in elections ― and which instead side more often with Big Money special interests against campaign finance reform.

California Clean Money Action Fund 2013-2014 Clean Money Scorecard Page 1

Clean Money Champion Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) ― one of the highest-scoring legislators in the 2013-2014 session thanks to authoring SB 52, the California DISCLOSE Act, and his perfect voting record ― celebrates a victory for SB 52 on August 8th with the 100 Clean Money supporters who came to testify. Volunteers like these helped get over 78,000 signatures from Californians urging legislators to pass SB 52.

How We Score Them

The scorecard comprises six bills endorsed by the California Clean Money Campaign that were written to address the problems that arise when Big Money dominates politics.

The highest-priority bill was SB 52, the California DISCLOSE Act, authored by Senators Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) and sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign. SB 52 would have changed the Big Money game by requiring ads for and against ballot measures to clearly show their top three true original funders, not front groups.

Three other important disclosure bills were SB 27 (Correa), which requires Dark Money non-profits to report their secret funders; SB 844 (Pavley), which makes it easier to find the top 10 funders for and against ballot measures online; and SB 2 (Lieu), which would have required California candidates to stand by their ads, and other disclosure requirements.

Two other bills helped California lead the way in national efforts to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision with a constitutional amendment: SB 1272 (Lieu) and AJR 1 (Gatto).

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Insider ScoresWhat happens behind the scenes can be just as important, if not even more important, than the votes themselves. The Clean Money Scorecard takes this into account by giving a positive “Insider Score” to legislators who author or co-author the bills we track or who otherwise make an extra effort to pass them. On the other hand, when individual legislators are known to have blocked progress behind the scenes, they earn a negative “Insider Score”.

Insider Scores allow the scorecard to go beyond public voting records, and also to highlight legislators who stand out as real Clean Money Champions.

Insider Scores applied on this scorecard are described in the detailed tables starting on page 8.

Scoring Their Votes, Not Their FundraisingThis scorecard does not say anything about how “clean” a legislator’s fundraising is. Until we have Clean Money public financing of campaigns, all candidates have to obtain their campaign contributions from private sources.

Instead, the Clean Money Scorecard focuses exclusively on how often legislators advocate and vote for campaign finance reform that helps fix our broken system.

Priority Bill on the Clean Money Scorecard:SB 52 (Leno-Hill): The California DISCLOSE Act

More than 400 organizations and leaders endorsed SB 52

The most important campaign finance bill of 2013-2014 was the California DISCLOSE Act, authored by Senators Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) and sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign. SB 52 would have stopped ballot measure ads from deceiving voters about who paid for them. 84% of voters supported this kind of reform in the October 2013 Field Poll.

SB 52 required all TV and print ads for and against ballot measures to clearly and prominently list their top three funders, and radio ads and robocalls to clearly state their top two funders. Most importantly, ads must show their true, original funders, not misleading front groups. Details at www.CAdisclose.org.

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Status of SB 52: SB 52 passed the Senate with an overwhelming vote of 28-11.

All Democrats except former Senator Rod Wright (D-Inglewood) voted Yes, and all Republicans except Senator Anthony Cannella (R-Merced) voted No. It then passed the Assembly Elections and Appropriations committees.

Unfortunately, opposition from California organized labor leaders made passage of SB 52 with the 2/3 vote it needed unlikely, so no Assembly floor vote was held.

Scoring on SB 52: Because SB 52 was our highest-priority bill, it counts double

on the scorecard. In addition to its 26 coauthors, three Assemblymembers took action: Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) and Jeff Gorell (R-Westlake Village) volunteered to be Assembly floor managers when nobody else did, and Speaker Toni Atkins publicly joined Senators Leno and Hill and the California Clean Money

Senator Mark Leno

Contra Costa Times

East Bay Express

Fresno Bee

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Long Beach Press-Telegram

Los Angeles Daily News

Merced Sun-Times

Modesto Bee

Oakland Tribune

Pasadena Star-News

Redlands Daily Facts

Sacramento Bee

Endorsed by 18 Newspapers (None opposed)

Senator Jerry Hill

San Bernardino Sun

San Francisco Chronicle

San Gabriel Valley Tribune

San Jose Mercury News

Torrance Daily Breeze

Whittier Daily News

Campaign to commit to future work on a new bill. Every other Assemblymember who didn’t vote on SB 52 in committee received an “incomplete”, causing a 10% deduction of their Insider Score.

Support for SB 52: More than 78,000 Californian signed California Clean Money petitions for SB 52.

SB 2 (Lieu)Sunshine in Campaigns ActAuthored by Senator Ted Lieu (D-Redondo Beach) and sponsored by California Common Cause and the League of Women Voters of California, SB 2 was part of the Sunshine in Campaigns Act that also included SB 3 and SB 27.

SB 2 would have implemented important improvements to current disclosure law by strengthening penalties for failing to disclose campaign contributions, requiring candidates to stand by their ads, and requiring slate mailers to reveal when positions are paid for by independent expenditures.

Other Disclosure Bills on the Clean Money Scorecard

Senator Ted Lieu

Support: California Common Cause (co-sponsor), League of Women Voters of California (co-sponsor), American Association of University Women, California Clean Money Campaign, Communication Workers of America, Fair Political Practices Commission, Friends Committee on Legislation of CA, Los Angeles County Democratic Party.

Status: Passed Senate and the Assembly Elections and Appropriations committees, but required a

2/3 vote to pass and was not brought up for an Assembly floor vote.

SB 27 (Correa)Requiring Dark Money non-profits to report secret funders

Authored by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) and sponsored by the Fair Political Practices Commission, SB 27 is a landmark bill that requires Dark Money non-profits that spend $50,000 or more on California campaigns to register as campaign committees and report the names of the secret donors of the money.

SB 27 also requires committees that are primarily formed to support or oppose a state ballot measure or state candidate and that raise one million dollars or more to report their top ten funders to the FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission) for it to disclose online.

Senator Lou Correa

Support: Fair Political Practices Commission (sponsor), California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, California Voter Foundation, Communication Workers of America AFL-CIO, CLC Local 9003, Common Cause, Courage Campaign, Fix Our America, League of Women Voters of California.

More than 38,000 Californians signed California Clean Money Action Fund petitions for SB 27.

Status: Signed into law by Governor Brown.

SB 844 (Pavley)Online disclosure of top ballot measure funders

Authored by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Calabasas), SB 844 requires crucial information about the top 10 funders for and against ballot measures to be clearly displayed on a webpage listed in the ballot pamphlet.

SB 844 builds on SB 27 by requiring the Secretary of State not only to display the top ten funders as calculated by the FPPC in SB 27, but also to include an accurate total amount spent for and against each ballot measure. Most importantly, it makes sure voters know about this resource by printing the web address in the Voter Information Guide below each ballot measure’s analysis.

Senator Fran Pavley

Support: California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, California Forward Action Fund, California Voter Foundation, League of Women Voters of California , MapLight, SEIU California.

More than 11,000 Californians signed California Clean Money Action Fund petitions in support of SB 844.

Status: Signed into law by Governor Brown.

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SB 1272 (Lieu)Overturn Citizens United ActAuthored by Senator Ted Lieu (D-Redondo Beach) and sponsored by Money Out Voters In, SB 1272 puts a proposition on the ballot to give California voters the opportunity to tell Congress to pass a constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court’s outrageous Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions.

SB 1272 is part of a growing nationwide movement to nullify these two Supreme Court decisions that reversed more than a hundred years of campaign finance laws and allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on campaigns. The proposition if put on the ballot would only be advisory, but would send an important message to California’s Congress members and leaders.

Citizens United bills on the Clean Money Scorecard

Senator Ted Lieu

Support: Money Out Voters In (sponsor), American Sustainable Business Council, California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO, CALPIRG, Democracy for America, Free Speech for People, Rebuild the Dream, and others.

More than 42,000 Californians signed the California Clean Money Action Fund’s petitions for SB 1272.

Status: Passed the legislature and was allowed to go into law by Governor Brown without his

signature, which would have put Proposition 49 on the November 2014 ballot. But the California Supreme Court intervened and took Prop 49 off the ballot until the court can rule on whether it’s constitutional for the legislature to put such an advisory measure on the ballot. If they rule affirmatively, the proposition will appear on the ballot in 2016.

AJR 1 (Gatto)Official call for an Article V constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens UnitedAuthored by Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), AJR 1 is an historic bill calling for an Article V constitutional convention "for the sole purpose of proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution that would limit corporate personhood for purposes of campaign finance and political speech and would further declare that money does not constitute speech and may be legislatively limited."

This is a crucial development because despite overwhelming evidence that voters want a constitutional amendment that allows strict limits on campaign spending, the 2/3 of Congress required to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot may never do so. But if 2/3 of the states call for an Article V convention for the purposes of such an amendment, it will happen whether Congress likes it or not.

Assemblymember Mike Gatto

Support: California Clean Money Campaign, CALPIRG, California State Grange, Consumer Watchdog, Wolf-PAC, 99Rise.

More than 7,000 Californians signed the California Clean Money Action Fund’s petitions for AJR 1.

Status: Went into effect after passing the legislature with a majority vote, with no signature necessary

by Governor Brown because it was a joint resolution. This makes California the second state in the nation to call for an Article V convention for the purposes of overturning Citizens United, after Vermont.

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How Cleanly Did State Senators Vote?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Democrats Republicans

111%

22%

Clean Money Champions:Highest-Scoring Senators

Highest-Scoring Republicans

Lowest-Scoring Senators

Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto): 14%

Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield): 14%

Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado Hills): 14%

Stephen Knight (R-Lancaster): 14%

Mike Morrell (R-Redlands): 14%

Jim Nielsen (R-Rocklin): 14%

Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Hills): 14%

Mark Wyland (R-San Juan Capistrano): 14%

Lowest-Scoring DemocratsNo current Senate Democrats Scored Under 100%. Former Senator Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) was the only Democrat to have voted No on SB 52 in the Senate, but he resigned after being convicted of perjury.

FranPavley(D-Agoura

Hills)

125%Author SB844Coauthor SB2,

SB52

MarkLeno(D-San

Francisco)

130%Author SB52

Coauthor SB844 SB1272

LoniHancock(D-Oakland)

120%Coauthor

SB52, SB844, SB1272

Anthony Cannella (R-Merced): 57%

Andy Vidak (R-Fresno): 50%

Bob Huff (R-Brea): 29%

Every active Senate Democrat voted Yes on all the scorecard bills when they were present. Unlike the Assembly, which failed to pass SB 2 and SB 52, the Senate passed all six bills.

Senate Democrats averaged a stellar 111% score because many earned bonuses by authoring or coauthoring several of the bills.

Eight stood out as Clean Money Championsfor their especially strong leadership.

Republicans averaged only a 22% score. However, SB 27 would not have passed without the votes of Republican Senators Cannella, Huff, and Vidak. Senator Cannellaalso cast a key vote for SB 52.

Average Clean Money Score

MarkDeSaulnier

(D-Concord)

125%Principal

Coauthor SB52Coauthor

SB844, SB1272

LouCorrea(D-Santa

Ana)

130%Author SB27

Coauthor SB52, SB844

TedLieu

(D-Torrance)

130%Author SB2,

SB1272Coauthor SB52

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JerryHill

(D-San Mateo)

120%Author SB52

AlexPadilla

(D-Van Nuys)

120%Coauthor

SB52, SB844, SB1272

How Cleanly Did Assembly Members Vote?

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Democrats Republicans

98%

19%

Clean Money Champions:Highest-Scoring Assembly Members

Mike Gatto(D-Los Angeles)

130%Author of AJR 1

Coauthor of SB52 and SB844. Ensured SB52 got through Appropriations Committee despite opposition.

Lowest-Scoring Assembly Members

Travis Allen (R-Fountain Valley): 0%

Diane L. Harkey (R-San Juan Capistrano): 10%

Franklin E. Bigelow (R-Jackson): 14%

Tim Donnelly (R-Hesperia): 14%

Eric Linder (R-Mission Viejo): 14%

Donald P. Wagner (R-Irvine): 14%

Lowest-Scoring Democrat

Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City): 67%

Voted No on SB 52 in Appropriations Committee and never publicly changed.

Highest-Scoring RepublicansJeff Gorell (R-Westlake Village): 65%

Kristin Olsen (R-Modesto): 40%

Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo): 40%

Brian Nestande (R-Yucaipa): 40%

All but three Assembly Democrats voted Yes when they had the opportunity to vote on Clean Money bills. However, after labor leaders opposed SB 52, there weren’t enough Democrats to join the lone Republican who agreed to vote for it, to bring it to a floor vote. So all Assemblymembers who didn’t coauthor SB 52, vote on it in committee, or otherwise take extraordinary action to support SB 52 were given an “incomplete” on the scorecard, causing a 10% Insider Score deduction.

Because of that, the average Democrat scored just under 98% on this scorecard, compared to 111% for their Democratic Senate colleagues.

Unfortunately, most Assembly Republicans consistently voted against scorecard bills, so they averaged only a 19% Clean Money score.

Average Clean Money Score

Bob Wieckowski(D-Fremont)

120%Coauthor of SB52, SB844, and SB1272

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Senator Votes on Scored Bills

*Insider Score Bonuses: Priority Clean Money bill (SB 52): 20% for authors, 15% for principal coauthors, and 10% for regular coauthors. Other scored bills: 10% for authors and 5% for coauthors.

= Voted Yes = Coauthor = Principal Coauthor× = Voted No ×* = Present but no vote (counts as Voted No) --- = Wasn’t present or no opportunity

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Assemblymember Votes on Scored Bills

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*Insider Score Bonuses: Priority Clean Money bill (SB 52): 20% for authors, 15% for principal coauthors, and 10% for regular coauthors. Other scored bills: 10% for authors and 5% for coauthors. Because SB 52 did not get an Assembly floor vote, all Assemblymembers who didn’t coauthor SB 52, vote in committee, or take extraordinary action to support it were given an “incomplete”, represented by a 10% Insider Score deduction.

**Speaker Atkins publicly committed to future work on the California DISCLOSE Act with Senators Leno and Hill and the California Clean Money Campaign, so does not get the Insider Score deduction that other Assemblymembers do.

***Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Gatto ensured that SB 52 got through his Appropriations Committee despite opposition, so gets a 5% Insider Score bonus so his SB 52 bonus is the same as a Principal Coauthor.

****Assemblymember Gorell was one of only two Assemblymembers who volunteered to be Assembly floor managers (along with Assemblymember Levine). They both therefore get the same Insider Score bonuses as Principal Coauthors of SB 52.

= Voted Yes = Coauthor = Principal Coauthor× = Voted No ×* = Present but no vote (counts as Voted No) --- = Wasn’t present or no opportunity

Assemblymember Votes on Scored Bills

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*Insider Score Bonuses: Priority Clean Money bill (SB 52): 20% for authors, 15% for principal coauthors, and 10% for regular coauthors. Other scored bills: 10% for authors and 5% for coauthors. Because SB 52 did not get an Assembly floor vote, all Assemblymembers who didn’t coauthor SB 52, vote in committee, or take extraordinary action to support it were given an “incomplete”, represented by a 10% Insider Score deduction.

**Assemblymember Levine was one of only two Assemblymembers who volunteered to be Assembly floor managers (along with Assemblymember Gorell). They both therefore get the same Insider Score bonuses as Principal Coauthors of SB 52.

= Voted Yes = Coauthor = Principal Coauthor× = Voted No ×* = Present but no vote (counts as Voted No) --- = Wasn’t present or no opportunity

What is the California Clean Money Action Fund?

California Clean Money Action Fund3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 208

Culver City, CA 90230Info@CACleanAction.org * (800) 566-3780 * Fax: (888) 633-8898

www.CACleanAction.org

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 California Clean Money Action Fund has been fighting for legislation and ballot measures to limit the undue influence of Big Money in politics in California since 2006.

The California Clean Money Action Fund is funded entirely by donations from individuals and foundations, and does not accept any funds from corporations or unions.

Board of Directors of the California Clean Money Action Fund

Trent Lange, PhD., PresidentCEO of Lange Fund Management, LLC and founder of Non-Profit Catalyst

Jo Seidita, Vice PresidentPolitical and community organizerCo-founder and first co-chair of Bilateral Nuclear Weapons Freeze Initiative

Wayne Williams, Secretary TreasurerPhotographer and political activist

The Honorable Sally LieberFormer Assembly Speaker pro Tempore and State Assemblymember from the 22nd DistrictFormer Mayor of Mountain View

Joann LoulanPsychotherapist and author with a 20-year practice in Portola Valley, California

Brad ParkerRecording artist and activistPresident, Valley Democrats United

Marilyn KizziahFormer Commissioner, California Commission on the Status of WomenMember of the Los Angeles Women's Leadership Council and the Coalition for Family Equality

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