What I think that does is open the door for your everyday Springfieldian to get into local politics,” said Roman Moody, a leader with MOJwJ, who attended a meeting in support of the bill’s passage. “Right now, there’s no cap, right? So if somebody wanted to write a blank check to whoever’s running for city council or for mayor or anything like that, they could. And that disenfranchises a lot of people.”
After months of campaigning, MOJwJ helped introduce the new ordinance in April, to cap individual contributions, as well as create a new city ethics commission to track any violations, which could lead to fines of up to $1,000 or six months in jail.
Yet hours before the Springfield City Council was slated to take up the proposal on April 20, Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag stepped in to offer his own revised version of the bill, which kept the cap on contributions, but eliminated the proposed creation of a new city ethics commission, assigning those duties instead to the city’s existing Tax Oversight Committee.
Despite misgivings over this unexpected revision by the mayor, which council members said undermined the transparency which the new ordinance seeks to establish, the City Council unanimously approved the revised measure on May 4.
“This bill helps level the playing field,” Springfield resident Chase Blackburn told the local news outlet KY3. “When people believe elections are fair, they are far more likely to pay attention, more likely to vote, and more likely to trust the people who are elected.”