Political group wants to cap contributions
March 19, 2004
By JOSE L. SANCHEZ Jr.
THE PRESS DEMOCRATA Petaluma political group wants local voters to cap campaign contribution for mayoral and City Council candidates at $200 every two years.
Petaluma Tomorrow submitted papers with the city clerk to circulate an initiative that would reduce the maximum contribution from the current limit of $500 every two years.
"What we're trying to do is reduce the chunks of money coming into the elections, especially from special interests who stand to make money from council decisions," said Larry Modell, chairman of Petaluma Tomorrow.
The group is primarily concerned about the influence of development interests, who are big contributors to Petaluma campaigns, Modell said.
Petaluma Tomorrow is a self-described advocate for "open government, responsible growth and sustainable watershed management." The group has opposed large development proposals and supported slow-growth candidates.
"If city government decisions are unduly influenced by private special interest money, those decisions won't necessarily be good for the public interest," Modell said. "You can have growth that outstrips your infrastructure and destroys quality of life all around, eating up open space, creating traffic gridlock and overcrowding schools."
Keith Woods, chief executive officer of the North Coast Builders Exchange, dismissed suggestions that council votes are affected by contributions from development interests.
"The notion that we are trying to buy ourselves a councilman is insulting. That's just a crock," Woods said. "We're just trying to support people who are good thinkers."
Organizations like Petaluma Tomorrow "perpetuate this myth of evil developers trying to buy candidates because they can't raise money for their own candidates," Woods said. "I'll make them a deal. If they'll offer up better candidates, we'll support them as well."
The exchange is a building industry association with 1,800 members, including approximately 200 in Petaluma.
Petaluma Tomorrow filed papers with the city clerk Tuesday. Once the group receives approval from the city, it can begin circulating its petition and collecting signatures. To qualify for the ballot, they need to collect signatures from 15 percent of the city's 26,900 registered voters or about 4,000 people.
In addition to reducing the maximum contribution, the initiative also would require candidates to disclose the source of any donation of $25 or more. The current limit is $100.
The initiative doesn't include a public financing provision, which the City Council eliminated last year after a single election. Public matching funds were offered to council candidates who accepted a voluntary campaign spending limit.
Mayor David Glass, one of two candidates to accept public funds in 2002, said he will support the initiative but wishes it restored public financing.
"This is a half cure for a serious problem," said Glass, who received a third of his campaign money from public funds in the 2002 campaign.
With special interests spending heavily to put like-minded people on city councils, Glass said, "the only responsible thing to do is to level the playing field with public money."
Councilman Bryant Moynihan, who led a move on the council last year to increase the contribution limit from $200 to $500, said lowering the cap would give an advantage to incumbents by reducing the amount that challengers would be able to raise.
Councilman Mike Healy said he wants to read the initiative before deciding whether to endorse it. But he said he favors returning to the $200 limit and lowering the minimum reportable amount by source to $25.
"Two hundred is what we ran on last time and it didn't hamper anyone's ability to raise money," he said. If the initiative were to be approved, it would go into effect in January.
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