Coun. Henry Braun, who is running for the mayor’s seat in the Nov. 15 election, said he will release the names of donors and their donation amounts to his campaign one week before the election.
“I think people have a right to know who is donating and in the amounts that they are donating.”
Braun said that while the donations must be disclosed 90 days after the election, he thinks it should be done before, saying that in his opinion, when a donation gets to a certain amount there is a perception that “someone wants something in exchange. That is a bit problematic to me.”
He said “if we are really about open and transparent government, why wait until 90 days after the election?”
Braun said transparency is a key element of both his election campaigns and that means giving the public information “and then they can make their own informed decisions.”
Braun said he also plans to cap donations amounts to his campaign, likely at $2,500. He said if he gets a donation higher than that, he’ll send it back.
He said that although he plans to release the donation details a week before on Nov. 8, if there are not too many donations after then he is willing to add those to the list as well.
Mayor Bruce Banman said he is currently undecided on whether he will do the same.
He said donations could be coming in until the last week of the campaign.
“It’s something I would have to think about whether it’s even feasible.”
He said he fully plans to comply with all rules for disclosing the information after the election.
In the 2011 municipal election, Braun and Banman were the only new faces elected to council.
According to campaign disclosure documents filed at city hall, Banman won the mayor’s seat with a budget of $3,500 – with $3,277 in contributions.
Braun spent just over $32,000 – mostly his own money – with $2,400 in contributions.