Two campaigns on the ballot this year in Washington state stood out for failing despite spending lots of money. One is Hillary Clinton’s. Her campaign raised twice as much as Donald Trump’s.
The other defeat hasn’t made big headlines. KUOW investigative reporter John Ryan brings us the story of Initiative 1464, the clean-elections initiative that big money couldn’t pass.
[There are no limits on spending to try to sell ballot measures to voters.
And this year, the side with the most money usually got the go-ahead.
Big bucks from billionaires helped convince Washington to adopt a new gun-control law.
Big bucks from labor unions got us a higher minimum wage—and new restrictions on the freedom of public information.
Big bucks from the construction industry helped sell the Seattle area on higher taxes for a bigger light-rail system.
But one of this year's richest initiative campaigns couldn't close a sale with voters.
Ad: "Four Things You Should Know about Initiative 1464" [fade under]
This is a campaign ad for that initiative.
"1464 limits campaign contributions from lobbyists and government contractors." [fade under]
The full text of the initiative is twelve pages long.
"It closes the revolving door between government and lobbying."
1464 would have made sweeping changes to the role of money in politics. It would have given each Washington resident 150 dollars to distribute to candidates of their choice.
But voters turned it down almost everywhere. Only King County and the San Juan Islands said yes.
1464 had little opposition--and big bucks behind it. Four million dollars, mostly from out-of-state donors. Their aim, paradoxically, was to reduce the role of big money in politics.
A lot of the same players supported a similar measure on the ballot in the Wild West of secrets and corruption: South Dakota.
Wiltse: "Fewer things are illegal here."
David Wiltse is a political scientist at South Dakota State University.
Wiltse: "South Dakota has very, very loose restrictions on lobbyists and has at least a reputation or appearance of some strong corruption."
South Dakota voters passed the measure known at the "Government Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act" this month.
That's despite opposition from the red state's top elected officials and hefty spending by the billionaire Koch brothers to stop it. Wiltse says the timing was right.
Wiltse: "With the general level of cynicism and anger at what we just vaguely refer to as the establishment, this was the perfect year to stick a finger in the eye of the establishment."
Back in Washington state, voters did pass one measure aimed at draining the apparent swamp of corruption.
Black: "People understand that the money in politics is out of control."
Cindy Black is chair of the Yes on 735 campaign.
Voters said yes to 735, even though it doesn’t have any real-world impact.
It only urges our members of Congress to help overturn the Citizens United decision. That case opened the floodgates of political money six years ago. Overturning it would take a constitutional amendment, not just an act of Congress.
Black: "Ours was really sending a strong message we don't like how this money in elections is affecting us, and we don't like how these Supreme Court decisions has affected elections."
The 735 campaigners raised five times less money than the 1464 campaign that failed.
Elway: "It is kind of curious."
Stuart Elway has been conducting polls for 40 years. This fall his polls showed 40 percent of voters undecided about 1464.
Elway says the measure has probably the most convoluted wording he's seen in years.
Elway: "The old saw is that confused voters vote no. Yes that's true, but unconvinced voters vote no, and if they're confused they're not going to be convinced."
Elway says it was hard for almost any campaign to get voters' attention this year. Except one.
Elway: "I think the presidential race took a lot of the oxygen out of the room in this state."
But those factors would also apply in South Dakota.
It could be that voters in Washington were just less upset about the status quo.
Elway: "We just didn't have the sense of anger it was reported on around the country. We're a pretty blue state."
If activists try to get these kinds of reforms on the Washington ballot next year, voters will have more of a track record to judge them by.
The city of Seattle launches its voter-approved system of publicly funded campaigns in January.
Copyright 2016 KUOW.