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1,4 CITIPACfrom page ................ ............................... Established by the League board of directors last spring, the success of CITIPAC is crucial to the League's efforts to place a measure on the November 2004 statewide ballot to strengthen constitutional protection of local revenues, and to fund a statewide campaign. Last month, by the unanimous roll call vote, the League's board of directors determined to proceed with a ballot measure to protect local services. Many city officials are already respond- ing to the call to help raise funds for this important effort. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard thanked all of the sponsors for their support of local government and West Covina Council Member Ben Wong spoke about the League's decisive decision to move forward on a ballot measure. Both Mayor Bogaard and Council Member Ben Wong reiter- ated the need for "local governance" and the need to restore and protect local control for cities. `The event raised $52, 000 slightly above it's $50,000 goal. Monies will continue to be raised throughout the region as we move closer to the November 2004 election." No "One Size Fits All" to Fundraising League regional representatives are beginning to work with city officials on fundraisers in a number of the League's divisions. While some areas may prefer to organize a reception, in another area the best draw is an event such as a golf tournament. In still other areas, local elected officials opt for no event at all, but instead prefer to set fundraising targets for themselves. For example, in the Sacramento area the first CITIPAC fundraiser took the form of a traditional "event ", a reception organized last May during the LOCAL legislative action days. Sponsored by Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, West Sacra- mento Chris Cabaldon, and other elected officials in cities in and around the State Capitol, the event drew on participation by businesses and individu- als in the general Sacramento /Northern California area. San Gabriel Valley cities also found that hosting a fundraising event worked best for their area. They held the second of two fundraisers a couple of weeks ago at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The Pasadena Star -News carried this report on the event: "CITIPAC hosted its second fundraiser in the San Gabriel Valley at the Pasadena Museum of California Art on Thursday evening. The fundraising event was sponsored by over a dozen local businesses and about 30 city representa- tives were in attendance. Inland Empire Works for Pledges By contrast, cities in the Inland Empire and Desert Mountain Divisions are not choosing to host fundraising events, but rather to work together in a CITIPAC education and direct request for donations effort. The program works like this: local elected officials are armed with materials that they can use in reaching out, on their own time, to educate private companies and non - profit organi- zations' political action committees and founda- tions of the vulnerability of city services in the state's budget deficit solutions. They share information about the League's proposal to protect funding for local services with a constitutional protection measure. They discuss the necessity for cities to partner with the non - profit and private sector communities, and seek the participation of these groups through contributions to CITIPAC. Fundraising Pledges and Target Goals To kick off their program, Division Presidents Janice Rutherford, Fontana Mayor Pro Tem, and Ted Burgnon, Town of Apple Valley Coun- cil Member, met on their own time, and not on city property, and jointly pledged to raise a total of $50,000 from private sector and non - profit organi- zations in their regions. They further pledged to work with other elected city officials in each of the 30 cities in the two divisions to encourage them to raise a minimum of $1,500 each. Information was provided to participating elected officials, to assist them in answering questions about CITIPAC and ensure they were informed about legal require- ments and restrictions relating to fundraising. Continued on Page 5 PAGE 4 /PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site -- www.cacities.org