During the 2019 legislative session, Oregon lawmakers considered passing campaign finance reform that would place limits on campaign spending for state elections. With a Democratic super-majority, passing spending limits should be an easy task. However, past efforts to pass campaign finance reform were deemed a violation of the free speech clause in Oregon's state constitution. To pass campaign finance reform, Oregon lawmakers had to consider other options to bypass the free speech arguments that prevented past reform efforts. Campaign finance reform advocates wondered if there's even enough 'fire in the belly' to place meaningful spending limits on state elections. Similar problems are found in the state of New York, in which longtime calls by Democrats to extend New York City's system of publicly funded elections appear to run into a lack of political willpower despite a similar Democratic super-majority in the state legislature.Host Jefferson Smith speaks with elected officials and campaign finance reform advocates in both states, including Kate Titus from Common Cause Oregon, former Oregon Appellate Court Judge David Schuman, Oregon State Rep. Dan Rayfield, Oregon State Senator Jeff Golden, Patrick Starnes, Jason Kafoury, and Alex Carmada from Reinvent Albany.
