New Study Reveals Voters Of Color View Campaign Finance As An Equality Issue, Support Full Public Funding Of Elections

8/1/2002

From: Rico Oyola of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, 415-543-9444 Stephanie Wilson of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, 616-998-0999 or 616-349-9760 Paul Turner of the Greenlining Institute, 415-547-7552 John Bonifaz of the National Voting Rights Institute, 617-839-7995 or 617-368-9100

SAN FRANCISCO, August 1 -- A coalition of civil rights organizations released a groundbreaking study today on how voters of color view the issue of money in politics. The study, conducted by Lake Snell Perry & Associates and based on unprecedented focus group research conducted in March 2002 in California, concludes that most voters of color strongly support full public funding of elections and see the campaign finance question as a bedrock equality issue. The study also concludes that most voters of color favor providing candidates with fair and equal access to media.

"This landmark study shows that voters of color believe that non-wealthy people are effectively shut out of politics, and we are repeatedly angered when our issues are ignored by politicians because we are not large contributors," says Eva Paterson, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights for the San Francisco Bay Area, a co-sponsor of the study. "As one African American woman in Oakland stated, 'If you don't have the resources, you're not going to get your voice out.' It is clear from these findings that campaign finance is a major civil rights issue of our time."

The study comes at a critical point for the campaign finance reform movement. With the recent passage by the U.S. Congress of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, many have questioned whether the movement now needs to be broadened in terms of its message and its constituency. The act, commonly referred to as the McCain-Feingold law (named for its co-sponsors U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-MN)), restricts soft money expenditures in federal elections, regulates electioneering advertisements, and increases the amount of hard money which individuals may contribute directly to federal candidates. The law currently faces a number of constitutional challenges in federal court in Washington, D.C., including a challenge to the hard money limit increases as discriminatory against non-wealthy voters and candidates.

Lake Snell Perry & Associates, a leading national public opinion research firm, conducted eight focus groups in Fresno, Los Angeles, and Oakland, California, from March 7 to March 12, 2002. The focus groups were stratified by race and gender at all three sites and each group consisted of eight to ten registered voters aged 20-65. The research is the first of its kind in the country to focus on the views of voters of color with respect to the campaign finance issue.

"This study shows that when we talk about campaign finance, we need to talk about equality, fairness, and the right to participate," says Stephanie Wilson, executive director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, a national grassroots organization that redefines campaign finance on civil rights grounds. "For too long, we have limited the campaign finance debate to the question of corruption in the political process. It is time to expand the debate and lift up America's promise of political equality." The Fannie Lou Hamer Project, named after the legendary civil rights worker from Mississippi, is another co-sponsor of the study released today.

The findings of this study will likely bolster efforts in a number of states to create voluntary full public funding systems for their state elections, Wilson adds. The states of Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont have enacted full or near-full public funding systems via the ballot initiative or legislative process. The findings will also lend further support for proposals for free media time for candidates. The study will challenge these efforts, however, to review their basic assumptions as to how to build a broad constituency for change of the current campaign finance system, Wilson notes.

"The campaign finance reform movement needs to take into account the important conclusions of this study," says Paul Turner, senior program manager of the Greenlining Institute in San Francisco, another study co-sponsor. "For example, one Asian voter in Oakland said he liked the idea of full public funding 'because it establishes an even floor for anyone who wants to participate without necessarily having to depend on who can generate the most amount of funds.' If we advance a broader vision, communities of color will respond."

The release of this study marks the latest in a series of actions over the past few years to link the campaign finance question to earlier civil rights struggles. In February 1999, the National Voting Rights Institute, a study co-sponsor, and Howard Law School hosted a national conference entitled, "Campaign Finance as a Civil Rights Issue", which brought together civil rights workers and democracy activists from around the country and which led to the founding of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project. In April 2001, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights for the San Francisco Bay Area hosted a conference with the California Coalition on Civil Rights on the theme of campaign finance and civil rights, which led to the coalition of organizations sponsoring this study. In July 2001, the NAACP passed a resolution at its national convention presented by the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, which endorsed full public funding of elections and defined campaign finance as a civil rights issue.

"Like the poll tax barrier of the past, today's campaign finance system denies ordinary citizens an equal and meaningful vote," says John Bonifaz, executive director of the National Voting Rights Institute. "And like the poll tax barrier of the past, today's campaign finance system must come down."

--- Editor's note: A copy of the study will be available at the press conference and on the following websites beginning on August 1, 2002: www.lspa.com; www.lccr.com; www.flhp.org; www.greenlining.org; www.nvri.org

--- NOTE TO PRESS: Coalition representatives will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 1, 2002, to release the findings of this study. David Mermin, Vice-President of Lake Snell Perry & Associates and the author of the study, will discuss the conclusions. The press conference will be held at the offices of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, 131 Steuart St., Suite 400, San Francisco.