{"id":505453,"date":"2026-10-23T15:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T15:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505453\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T15:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T15:22:11","slug":"proposition-4-would-let-more-cities-fund-campaigns-in-oakland-thats-been-a-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505453\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposition 4 Would Let More Cities Fund Campaigns. In Oakland, That\u2019s Been a Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most California cities are barred from setting up public campaign financing programs. Oakland overwhelmingly approved one in 2022, but budget problems have gotten in the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yes on Prop. 4 East Bay hosts campaign kick off at First Unitarian Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. Proposition 4 would give local governments the ability to establish public financing options for political campaigns.\u00a0(Amir Aziz for KQED)<\/p>\n

Trent Lange stands in front of a banner hastily taped to the wall reading \u201cElections should be won, not bought.\u201d The message seems to resonate with the roughly two dozen activists gathered at the First Unitarian Church in downtown Oakland<\/a>, all members of the California Clean Money Campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho thinks that the amount of money in politics is outrageous and is corrupting our democracy?\u201d Lange asks the crowd, which responds with a cheer. Lange and the grassroots organization he leads want to limit the growing influence of corporate donors on political campaigns.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why they are rallying around Proposition 4<\/a>, the measure on California\u2019s November ballot that would allow all local governments to establish their own public campaign financing programs. Currently, most cities are barred from using taxpayer dollars for such programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can lift this ban on public financing that stops communities from passing public financing, then we can empower voters [and] give candidates, good candidates, a chance to run for office and win \u2014 even when they\u2019re not backed by corporate special interests,\u201d Lange said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii speaks to the Yes on Prop. 4 East Bay campaign kickoff crowd at First Unitarian Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. Proposition 4 would give local governments the ability to establish public financing options for political campaigns.\u00a0(Amir Aziz for KQED)<\/p>\n

Some charter cities exempted from the 1988 ban, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley, have approved their own local public campaign financing programs. Here in Oakland, however, residents have yet to receive a single dollar from its signature public financing program as the city struggles to get it off the ground.<\/p>\n

Oakland residents overwhelmingly voted to adopt the \u201cDemocracy Dollars\u201d program in 2022, but city officials have delayed the program\u2019s rollout twice now, citing the city\u2019s massive budget shortfall<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re disappointed that Oakland hasn\u2019t found the money yet to pay for it, though we understand they are in a very serious budget deficit,\u201d Lange said. \u201cWe think that the fact that over 70% of voters voted for Oakland to have a public financing system with democracy vouchers shows how much they want it \u2014 and it\u2019s a good investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a problem that might not be unique to Oakland, even if Proposition 4 passes. While the measure would allow cities to create their own public financing programs, it wouldn\u2019t provide any funding for cities to pay for them.<\/p>\n

\nA promise delayed\n<\/p>\n

Under Oakland\u2019s Democracy Dollars program, each resident is supposed to receive four $25 vouchers they can donate to the local candidate of their choice. The city is required to allocate $4 million for the vouchers each election cycle, with unused funds rolling over to future elections.<\/p>\n

The program was pitched as a promise to limit the undue influence of big corporate donors and empower Oakland residents to invest in the local candidates they believe in.<\/p>\n

It was also seen as an opportunity to give grassroots candidates a fighting chance against those backed by special interests. Both are also arguments that supporters of Proposition 4 have made in favor of the measure.<\/p>\n

\"\"State Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, speaks to the Yes on Prop. 4 East Bay campaign kickoff crowd at First Unitarian Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. Proposition 4 would give local governments the ability to establish public financing options for political campaigns.\u00a0(Amir Aziz for KQED)<\/p>\n

Opponents, however, say taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund political campaigns, especially when cities and the state are trying to balance the budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, California isn\u2019t doing a good job with its finances. They continue to raise taxes and cut services, both at the state and local level,\u201d said Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, who is urging a no vote on Proposition 4. \u201cAnd now the politicians want to use our scarce tax dollars to fund their political campaigns. This is outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Oakland, city administrators initially signaled the Democracy Dollars program would be in place for the 2024 election cycle, though it was postponed until 2026. Now city officials say the full program could be on hold for two more election seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it must be a priority for all elected officials to come up with policies and solutions to promote democracy and bring democracy in the hands of working people,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Oakland\u2019s delay in getting its campaign financing program off the ground could serve as a warning for advocates who want to see public financing spread to other municipalities.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yes on Prop. 4 East Bay hosts campaign kickoff at First Unitarian Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. Proposition 4 would give local governments the ability to establish public financing options for political campaigns.\u00a0(Amir Aziz for KQED)<\/p>\n

The fact that Oakland\u2019s Measure W contained a provision allowing the city to delay its implementation should be avoided for future program development, said Sean McMorris, program manager for transparency, ethics and accountability at the nonpartisan watchdog group California Common Cause. The group advocated for Oakland\u2019s measure and is backing Proposition 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that is something we would recommend that jurisdictions do in the future because it isn\u2019t out and it makes the program unreliable,\u201d McMorris said. \u201cCandidates need to know they\u2019re going to be reliably able to use this program and they\u2019re not going to have to worry about it being taken away from them from election to election.\u201d<\/p>\n

In neighboring Berkeley, Mayor Adena Ishii attributes the city\u2019s public financing program for making it possible for her to run without access to wealthy donors. She also said it helped her make history as the first Asian American and woman of color to be elected mayor of Berkeley.<\/p>\n

Ishii\u2019s reliance on Berkeley\u2019s matching funds program led her to run a grassroots campaign, focusing on individual donors in Berkeley rather than larger, corporate donors. It\u2019s something she\u2019d like to see Oakland do as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to put your money where your mouth is, and if this is a priority to make sure it\u2019s the will of the people that\u2019s being represented in public office, then it\u2019s important for cities to make sure that the funding is there too,\u201d Ishii said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most California cities are barred from setting up public campaign financing programs. Oakland overwhelmingly approved one in 2022,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-505453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}