ASUC Elections
TGIF Highest-Spending Referendum Campaign

With elections just days away, the campaign for The Green Initiative Fund referendum has vastly outspent any other referendum campaign this season. The ASUC Judicial Council nullified the existing spending limit on referendum campaigns.

Originally, Elections Council Chair Jessica Wren said referenda should be treated as individual senate candidate campaigns with a $200 campaign spending limit.

However, when Wren informed the TGIF campaign of the $200 spending limit, the campaign had already spent approximately $1,000 on materials, said graduate student Sam Arons, a co-author of the referendum.

“We just figured we wouldn’t be able to use the buttons and T-shirts,” Arons said. “We would have really scaled back the materials if someone came out against us.”

However, junior Rachel Barge, another co-author of the referendum, requested an advisory opinion from the Judicial Council as to whether referenda could be considered as individual candidates in the campaign.

In an unanimous decision issued March 15, the council advised that referenda are not subject to the same campaign rules as individual candidates.

“The current bylaws do not allow referenda to be subject to the spending limits imposed on candidates for elected office, nor do they impose any spending limits specifically upon referenda,” the decision states.

So far this year the fund’s campaign has spent approximately $2,000, which have been contributed by third party donors, Arons said.

The campaign has been funded in part through the Web site for Big Ideas@Berkeley, a program that solicits donations from alumni and other third party donors to “provide funding, support and encouragement to interdisciplinary teams of UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students who have ‘big ideas,’” the Web site reads.

As of Tuesday night, the campaign for the fund has acquired $3,385 in donations with a goal of raising $5,000, according to the Web site.

The fund’s proponents ask for donations for “assistance with advertising and marketing” of the fund, the site states.

Sixteen individuals donated to the project with contributions ranging from $25 to $2,500 dollars, according to the Web site.

The $2,500 donation was made by Thomas Kalil, special assistant to Chancellor Robert Birgeneau for science and technology who leads the Big Ideas program, the site reads.

Referendum proponents said they made the decision to use the site because they say their fund functions differently from the other referenda on the ballot.

“It’s more like a student project,” Arons said. “Big Ideas is a way to raise money for projects, but not for entertainment. I don’t know if it would have been appropriate for other referenda.”

The large campaign was necessary for bringing the supporters of the referendum together, Arons said.

Arons said the campaign is mainly focused on ensuring that students vote rather than changing voters’ minds, since many already support environmental projects.

“It’s a question of getting the word out and making sure people vote. That’s the challenge, not winning over people’s hearts and minds,” Arons said.

The scale of other referenda campaigns stands in stark contrast to the fund’s spending.

Graduate student Josh Daniels and senior Joyce Liou, who are both proponents of the Student Union Complex Fee referendum, said they plan on spending a combination of approximately $250 in out-of-pocket expenses on their campaign.

Daniels said he was in contact with campus administrators to try and get reimbursement for their expenses.

Liou said she did not see the need to spend a large amount of money on the campaign.

“My personal thing is to educate voters and distribute nonpartisan campaign materials and educate as many students as possible on the referendum,” Liou said.

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