LBREPORT.com's proposed campaign transparency ordinance would apply to all candidates in city races. It would end the political games and selective disclosures in which some campaigns boast about sums collected but hide for months information the public ultimately has a right to know: who gave them the money, what's their position in a business or special interest that seeks to influence our election, and is the contribution from outside Long Beach (no right to vote in our election that they seek to influence with an outcome that won't affect contributors where they live.)

What's required at this point is for a Council incumbent to agendize the item for Council consideration. The next deadline for a single Councilmember to agendize an item for the Oct. 22 Council agenda is noon Monday (Oct. 14); however three Councilmembers have until noon Friday Oct. 18 to jointly agendize an item for the Oct. 22 Council agenda.

2.02.010 Electronic filing of campaign disclosure statements.

Whenever any committee or person is required by the California Political Reform Act (Government Code Section 81000 et seq.) to file a semiannual, pre-election, supplemental pre-election or amendment(s) to a campaign statement with the City Clerk, the committee or person shall file at the same time a copy of the statement in electronic format as prescribed by the City Clerk, provided that the Clerk has prescribed the format at least sixty (60) days before the statement or report is due. (Ord. C-7880 § 1, 2003)

2.02.015 -- Whenever any committee or person is required to file a campaign statement specified in section 2.02.010 above, every such committee or person shall in addition provide a publicly accessible hyperlink on the home page of said committee's or person's campaign website to a publicly accessible website page disclosing all information (including city and zip code but redacting street addresses) required to be disclosed in materials under section 2.02.010. Said webpage accessible information shall be updated and kept current to within ten business days of the person's or committee's latest received contribution (cash or in-kind), loan or expense (cash or in-kind.)

2.02.020 Penalties.

Any committee or person who files an electronic copy of a semiannual, pre-election, supplemental pre-election or amendment(s) to a campaign statement required by this Chapter after the deadline imposed by the California Political Reform Act (California Government Code Section 81000 et seq.) for filing the written copy of such statement shall be liable in an amount determined by the City Council by resolution per day after the deadline, until the electronic copy is filed.

(ORD-10-0014, § 2, 2010; Ord. C-7880 § 1, 2003)

2.02.025 -- Any committee or person whose campaign website fails to comply with the provisions of section 2.02.15 above may be publicly identified by any third person or committee as "non-compliant with the digital campaign transparency requirements of the Long Beach Municipal Code." A person or committee without a campaign website shall not be subject penalties under this section. Any other penalties specified in section 2.02.020 above shall not apply to section 2.02.015 above.

LBREPORT.com, which pioneered digital, independent reporting of news in Long Beach (we're now in our 14th year), has proposed this ordinance to bring digital transparency to reporting Long Beach election campaign information. Sacramento's filing schedule is a vestige of the pre-digital, pre-internet paperwork era. There is no reason that serves the public's interest to let candidates and their paid consultants conceal for months information they've already collected that the public has a right to know.

Hiding behind a paperwork-era schedule -- in this case pushing disclosure into nearly February 2014 -- is especially untenable when candidates now use the internet to solicit contributions, send self-serving campaign dispatches and boast about the money they've collected.

If you support our transparency and disclosure effort, please forward a link to this story to your Facebook friends, post it on your Facebook page, "like" and "recommend" this page and [this should be interesting] webpost it to the candidates' Facebook page. If you receive a response from the candidate(s), forward it to us and we'll report it. (We invite candidates in the April 2014 Long Beach election cycle to let us know if they support this transparency measure.)

All it takes to do this in Long Beach elections is for one Councilmember to agendize it and five Councilmembers to vote for it. That vote would show voters citywide which of their current Councilmembers -- six of whom are seeking various higher offices -- welcome internet transparency and openness...or fear it.

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