THE SUNLIGHT ON DARK MONEY INITIATIVE

"New SF ballot measure takes aim at ‘dark money’ in local politics" - SF Examiner, 10/11/18

*** Read the City Attorney's Impartial Summary of the Sunlight Initiative by clicking here ***

San Francisco elections are awash in unlimited Dark Money from Corporate SuperPACs. Voters are prevented from making fully informed choices by the lack of strong disclosure laws which allow fake names and shell committees to hide the true source of these Corporate PAC advertisements from voters.  Loopholes in existing law allow prohibited corporate and lobbyist donations to flow.  "Pay-to-play" politics undermines voter trust in the integrity of the decisions being made by City Hall.

The Sunlight On Dark Money Initiative strengthens the San Francisco Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance in order to assist voters in making informed decisions, limit corruption or the appearance of corruption, and enhance the integrity of the election process. 

The Official Proponent of the Sunlight On Dark Money Initiative is Professor Peter Keane, former Chair of the San Francisco Ethics Commission.

The Chair of the Campaign Committee for the Sunlight On Dark Money Initiative is Tom Ammiano former Assemblymember, former President of the SF Board of Supervisors, and longtime campaign finance reform advocate.

Peter Keane & Tom Ammiano after filing the Sunlight On Dark Money Initiative on 10/11/18

The Sunlight On Dark Money Initiative will:

1) STRENGTHEN DARK MONEY DISCLOSURE:  Significantly increases disclosure of the advertisements by Dark Money SuperPACs to enable voters to more fully understand who is paying for the ads they receive in the mail, at their door, on tv, and online.  The initiative restores important disclosure provisions that were quietly repealed by the Board of Supervisors in 2015.

2) LIMIT PAY-TO-PLAY:  Prohibits "pay-to-play" campaign contributions in land use matters during consideration of a land use matter or within 12 months following approval of the matter.  The "pay-to-play" provision in the initiative is similar to a provision defeated by the Board of Supervisors on a 6-5 vote in April 2018.

3) CLOSE CORPORATE & LOBBYIST LOOPHOLES:  Extends the lobbyist campaign contribution limitations to employers or clients of a lobbyist and extends the prohibition on corporate contributions to candidates to include limited liability corporations and limited partnerships, which have been increasingly used to circumvent the corporate campaign contribution restriction.

The Sunlight On Dark Money Initiative will need 9,485 valid petition signatures from San Francisco voters in order to appear on the November 2019 ballot.  Sign up here to help collect petition signatures.  Read the full text of the initiative by clicking here.