While Florida’s well-financed sons Governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio campaigned and lost this cycle’s presidential contest, advocates in Miami-Dade County are still striving for a money-in-politics victory.
And thanks to County Judge William Thomas, they just moved one step closer. On Friday, he ordered a citizen-backed referendum that proposes a number of campaign finance-related changes be placed on the November ballot.
Miami-Dade County’s lawyers, who oppose the initiative, immediately appealed Thomas’s decision to the Third District Court of Appeal. A decision is expected this week because the county’s election administrators must send the November ballots to the printers by Saturday, September 17.
Here’s what the ballot initiative would do, per the Miami Herald:
Reduce maximum donation from $1,000 to $500 for mayoral and county commission candidates per election cycle;
Ban vendors, their lobbyists and immediate relatives from giving to most candidates for county offices; and
Expand public-financing of elections and the county’s small-donor matching system for candidates who agree to take contributions of $100 or less.
Read the full initiative from Accountable Miami-Dade and stay-tuned to our blog for updates through November.
