Boston mayoral candidate Rob Consalvo is putting out an ad today asking candidates to sign on to the “Boston Pledge” similar to the People’s Pledge that Senator Warren and Scott Brown agreed to in their Senate campaign keeping special interest money out of campaigns.
“Boston Pledge” would require candidates to contribute to the One Fund if outside groups spent money in support of a mayoral contender.
I like the trend, we’ve seen the pledge in state wide campaigns, but special interest have a significant impact in elections where fundraising dollars are smaller. John Connolly for example is getting an influx of $500,000 from a charter school group from Oregon, plus there are union dollars out there.
Kudos to Consalvo for putting this pledge out there.
As far as the People’s Pledge it concerned groups from outside Massachusetts. Does the Boston pledge ban groups from outside of Massachusetts, outside of Boston, or all third party spending wherever located?
The People’s Pledge wasn’t limited to groups outside of MA. It concerned all independent expenditures, and my understanding is that the proposed Boston Pledge is similar in scope.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/08/21/john-connolly-stand-for-children-debacle/