Feel free to educate yourself on Campaign Costs here in California. At the following website, ( California Clean Money Campaign ) you can see clearly, that Governor Schwarzenegger as well as those in both the State Senate and State Assembly clearly feel that $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 is the cost of an Assembly District Campaign currently. These figures are included in the current AB583 now signed into law. We will vote on this in June of 2010. (see below)
The California Action Network only provides for $200,000 per Candidate for all Candidates for Delegate to our Constitutional Convention. Why? We totaled up the amount any Candidate for Delegate would have to spend for basic publicity. Everyone uses the media for free publicity. To mix and match spending with news coverage takes some skill, however we feel that every motivated Candidate for Delegate will recognize this, and respond accordingly. Here are the normal 2008 costs for the certain specifics each candidate will need to address:
One Professional Assembly District Mailer to (give or take) 400,000 voters: $50,000
Professional Newsprint Ads at $5,000 to $10,000 per (times three): $15,000 to $30,000
Professional Cable and TV Ad Campaign: $80,000
Door Hangers, Flyers, Buttons, and Signs: $20,000
Office, Consultants, and Overhead for the 60 Day Campaign for Delegate: $20,000
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Public Finance provided per Qualified Candidate for Delegate $200,000
Why did we set 1,000 signatures as the threshold for any Candidate for Delegate to Qualify for Public Funding? Because the Candidates for Delegate will only have 30 days to secure their signatures and many will not have paid signature gatherers. Signature gatherers charge $1.00 to $2.00 per signature for their service. We feel the State should not add an additional $5.00 per signature "fee", as it is simply not fair to require motivated new pubic servants to pay $5,000 or more to apply for an election to run for Delegate.
The Convention will be sequestered. Everyone who enters the races for Convention Delegates to be held in every Assembly District in California, will know in advance - that if they win, they are going to be moved immediately by the California Highway Patrol to be housed at the Asilomar Conference Center for many months. We are asking our Delegates to give up an estimated 4 to 6 months of their life, in service to our Golden State of California. This personal commitment means that each will spend the estimated 4 to 6 months with no out-side contact with their family, friends, church communities, no-one. The only focus of the Constitutional Convention will be to draft our new State Constitution. There will be no days off, no holidays, no personal time off, none of that. The terms of our Initiatives include Delegate sequestration until their jobs are finished. The State Police will be tasked to cordon off and secure the Convention and the Convention Site. There will be no contact with any Lobbyists, Outside Influence Peddlers, nor the Public. We are tasking 400 Elected Delegates with a most sober, serious, and critical mission when we elect them to this public service. This is a once in a lifetime event. It may be the last Constitutional Convention California will ever need as a State. Our feeling is that we better do this right!
If you want to read the new State Law known as the California Fair Elections Act, the full details are at the proponents website here: California Clean Money Campaign. California has clearly already moved toward public finance of our campaigns for public office. All the governing law for the election of our Constitutional Convention Delegates is included in our two Constitutional Statewide Initiatives.