Cleveland City Council and a major City Hall union outspent the People’s Budget campaign in their push to defeat Issue 38, financial reports show.
A council political action committee and other opponents of the participatory budgeting charter amendment spent a combined $305,000 in their 2% victory over the issue, unaudited campaign finance reports show. Those expenditures took the form of both cash and in-kind spending and services.
Meanwhile, supporters of Issue 38 disclosed $167,300 in both cash spending and in-kind work.
The amendment would have given residents more direct input over $14 million in city money, or 2% of the city’s operating budget. Council members, who saw the issue as too costly and an infringement on their power of the purse, led the charge against it.
The spending figures come from a set of unaudited campaign finance disclosures with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections that cover the three months between Sept. 9 and Dec. 8. The most recent report was due last Friday afternoon.
A union ad blitz and council’s political action committee
In the final days before the November election, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Ohio Council 8 unleashed a flurry of mailers and radio ads against Issue 38.
AFSCME, which represents more than 1,000 City of Cleveland workers, bankrolled a political action committee called No on 38 to fight the charter amendment. The electrical workers’ and pipefitters’ unions also contributed money.
No on 38 directly spent $56,800 airing ads on local radio stations urging voters to defeat the charter amendment. AFSCME supplemented that by spending more than $92,800 on mailers, media and advertising on the PAC’s behalf, the financial report says.
The union also contributed almost $10,000 in staff time and allowed the PAC to use its voter list, which was valued at $10,000.
The Council Leadership Fund, a PAC long run by City Council presidents, spent $135,200 from September through early December. The spending included $4,500 for a sound van, almost $8,000 for yard signs, $15,500 for billboards and $63,400 for mailers.
Council’s PAC spent $2,160 on automated text messages through Group Victory, a company registered to former Council Member Eugene Miller. The leadership fund also paid $12,000 for literature distribution to Strategic Resources Consulting, a firm owned by local political guru Kenn Dowell.
To raise money for the campaign, the leadership fund tapped its donor network of businesses, unions and law firms. Among the contributors were the Haslam family and a PAC affiliated with Rock Holdings, an umbrella company for many of Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s businesses.
The fund also brought in $37,700 at an Oct. 18 fundraiser. Donations at the event included $10,000 from developer Wesley Finch, $10,000 from the sheet metal workers’ union, $2,500 from the Cleveland Teachers Union, $2,500 from the Realtors political action committee, $1,000 from the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s political action committee and another $1,000 from the firefighters’ union.
Allied nonprofits boost People’s Budget effort
The People’s Budget Cleveland campaign looked to several nonprofits – including a newly formed political advocacy group – for campaign help.
The campaign disclosed $23,000 in contributions from the People’s Economy Action Collective, a 501(c)4 nonprofit that was incorporated this June. The group maintains an address at the offices of McTigue & Colombo, a campaign law firm in Columbus that also did work on the participatory budgeting effort.
In a mission statement shared with Signal Cleveland, the People’s Economy Action Collective says that it “fights for a just transition away from an extractive economic system towards a solidarity economy” by “lobbying, supporting campaigns, and challenging public and elected officials.”
Known as “social welfare organizations,” 501(c)4s have more leeway to engage in politics and lobbying than 501(c)3 nonprofits. Now common in political campaigns, 501(c)4 groups generally do not have to disclose their donors.
The People’s Budget campaign reported receiving $115,600 in in-kind help largely from other nonprofits. The Ohio Organizing Collaborative paid for mailers and loaned staff to the effort. Cleveland Votes and Cleveland Owns also contributed staff time, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless gave $8,500.
The campaign directly spent $51,700 on Issue 38 – including $9,000 for campaign manager Molly Martin, $8,200 paying get-out-the-vote canvassers, almost $6,300 on advertising, $4,000 for radio ads, $4,000 for yard signs, and $3,500 on gift cards for Election Day campaign workers.
Although the participatory budgeting effort fell short in November, supporters don’t appear to be going away. The campaign has scheduled a meeting in January to “strategize on the path forward for People’s Budget Cleveland.”
Suggested Reading
What is the Council Leadership Fund, the political action committee opposing Issue 38?
For decades, Cleveland City Council presidents have turned to the Council Leadership Fund to help incumbents hold onto their seats.
See a map of how Cleveland voted on Issue 38, the People’s Budget
Issue 38 would have given residents a more direct say in how Cleveland spends taxpayer dollars. Under opposition from Cleveland City Council and others, the charter amendment lost a close race on Nov. 7.