Stanton officials are looking into making major changes to how city council campaigns are financed in one of OC’s smallest cities by infusing tax dollars into the election cycle.
Officials are currently researching what publicly funded elections could look like in the city, laying the groundwork to potentially become the first city OC to make the change. They’re also considering tightening campaign donation limits.
David Burke, president of Citizens Take Action – a nonprofit aimed at bringing greater transparency to government on campaign finance reforms – said publicly funded elections diminish the influence campaign contributors might have on policy.
“Publicly funded elections are what election nerds like me consider the best of the best,” Burke told council members at the Feb. 27 meeting.
It comes after Orange County’s largest corruption scandal in recent history kicked off in neighboring Anaheim a couple years ago, which saw the mayor resign for trying to ram through the Angel Stadium land sale for up to $1 million in campaign support.
FBI agents in sworn affidavits & independent investigators in a corruption report last year accused Disneyland resort interests of holding undue influence over Anaheim City Hall.
[Read: What Could Campaign Finance Reform Look Like in Two OC Cities?]
In the fallout of the corruption scandal, Anaheim officials decided to require candidates to repay their debt within a year from the election as well as limit personal campaign loans to $100,000 per election as part of their reforms.
[Read: Anaheim Officials Change How Political Candidates Fundraise in Wake of Corruption Scandal]
The scandal has also spurred debate over campaign finance reforms and tightening lobbyist rules in cities throughout Orange County – even stretching as far south as San Diego.
[Read: Is Anaheim’s Corruption Scandal a Conduit For Reforms Across Southern California?]
Stanton’s Proposed Publicly Financed Elections
At the Feb. 27 meeting, Stanton City Council members voted unanimously to direct staff to do more research on publicly funded elections and look into a $1,000 limit on campaign contributions.
Burke, who is also a Cypress City Councilman, said in publicly financed elections, candidates who raise money from residents generally receive a match of five times what they raised or a lump sum of $20,000 from the city’s budget.
He said these types of elections improve public trust and give hard working candidates a chance to succeed.
Stanton City Councilwoman Carol Warren said it creates the potential of candidates benefitting from a publicly funded campaign, but later dropping out of the race.
“I don’t want the city’s money on those kinds of people,” Warren said.
Others on the council are interested in the idea.
“I don’t want to burden our taxpayers too much,” Van said. “But I hope that we can consider putting a very small portion of our budget out to try out publicly financed elections.”
Will Stanton Tighten Campaign Contribution Limits?
State law allows cities to set their own campaign contribution limits or default to the state-set limits of an individual $5,500 donation per election cycle, which is Stanton’s current limit.
Burke said that keeping the state-set limits on campaign contributions can diminish public trust in elections.
“Lower campaign contribution limits give residents more confidence that leaders are truly focused on what’s best for the community,” he said.
Orange County cities, including Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, have already enacted campaign contribution limits in an effort to be more transparent in their candidate funding process, according to the Fair Political Practice Commission.
Burke also said large campaign contributors — like real estate developers or labor unions — could have more influence over Stanton city officials, potentially leading to legislation favoring certain campaign donors.
“People (city residents) feel like their voice isn’t going to be heard over a large campaign donor; they’re less likely to participate in the process,” he said.
Councilwoman Hong Alyce Van also expressed concern over funding coming from outside Orange County.
“I’m afraid about the 80% to 90% of outside money that is coming in and possibly influencing decision-making,” she said. “We don’t need thousands and thousands of dollars to win.”
Mayor David Shawver and Councilwoman Carol Warren pushed back on decreasing the limit.
“There was a method to the madness,” Shawver said during the meeting, “They actually did something right by having it because it wasn’t too low and it wasn’t too high.”
Warren said she worried that adjusting the contribution limits wouldn’t “get anyone unelected in Stanton because we have our limits so low that they can’t do what they need to do.”
Campaign Transparency in Stanton
Burke also brought up the issue of transparency on the city’s webpage and the lack of campaign finance disclosure forms available on the website.
“That is a transparency problem; let’s go and make sure all these forms are posted, especially the forms 496 and 497 … For the whole world to know who is for what.” Van said, referencing disclosures that show who’s funding candidates’ campaigns.
Burke also suggested specific restrictions on contributions from contractors or developers, adding the updated Levine Act addressed some of those issues.
The act requires an elected official who accepts a contribution of more than $250 to recuse themselves from any proceeding involving the donor for 12 months, or officials must refuse to accept donations of more than $250 from participants in proceedings within that time frame, according to the staff report.
Van also backed increased transparency measures.
“Somebody could come in with $100k … and totally buy out our elections. And that is a problem – that is a transparency problem.” Van said.
Mayor David Shawver said no ordinance would fully solve the problem of financial influence over the city council from big donors.
“If you want to be the policeman and have everybody get $250 bucks, that’s not going to solve anything,” Shawver said.
Van suggested a prohibition on contributions from contractors and developers the city’s currently negotiating with. She suggested the city staff look at cities that have already implemented this.
Council members unanimously approved Van’s motion to direct city staff to write an ordinance enacting campaign limits and post all FPPC forms onto the city website.
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