Cap on L.A. Campaign Contributions Sought

Supporters of a Los Angeles city ballot measure that for the first time would limit political contributions to local candidates said last week that they stand ready to raise as much as $250,000 to ensure its passage.

Kicking off their campaign at a City Hall news conference, Mayor Tom Bradley and council members Ernani Bernardi and Joy Picus joined representatives of Common Cause and the League of Women Voters in boosting the campaign limitation measure.

That proposal, which will appear as Charter Amendment 1 on the April 9 ballot, would set a $500 limit on contributions to a City Council candidate and place a $1,000 cap on donations to candidates for citywide offices. It also would restrict the use of campaign funds by local candidates and require unused campaign money to be returned.

“While this is not the final answer and will not be a solution to all of the problems of campaign finance,” Bradley said, “we at least are taking the first step by establishing this city as one of the first in the state of California to adopt such a strong campaign finance measure.”

Similar Ordinances

The cities of San Francisco and San Diego, among others, have already enacted similar ordinances limiting campaign donations. But the Los Angeles measure, proponents maintained, would be one of the most stringent.

The provisions, which would take effect after July 1, would include a $500 limit on contributions to all independent campaign committees and place a tighter rein on candidates’ use of personal funds for a campaign. Loans to candidates also would be limited to $500 for City Council races and $1,000 in citywide elections.

Unlike current practice, candidates could not raise money for one city office and then use those funds for another race or transfer it to another candidate. Unused funds of more than $5,000 also would have to be returned to contributors, paid into the city’s general fund or donated to charity.

Violations of the law would be considered misdemeanors. But a candidate, if convicted of a “substantial” violation that affects an election, could be removed from office and be banned from holding city elective office for five years.

“It’s been a long, hard struggle,” said Bernardi of his decade-long effort to get the limitation measure before the voters. But he added Tuesday: “We’re very confident that the people in this community will support it.”

Opposition to the campaign limitation measure is expected to come from the same members who fought Bernardi at the council, including Councilman David Cunningham. But it was unclear just how much financial support opponents will muster to fight it.

Meanwhile, Bruce Corwin, president of Metropolitan Theater Corp. and a major political fund raiser, said backers of the limitation measure will raise $250,000 with support from some veteran contributors.

“I think a lot of us who have given to political candidates and to specific causes in the political process through the years have said to ourselves, ‘Enough is enough, the system is being abused,’ ” Corwin told reporters.

No Voluntary Limits

Although Bradley and Picus voiced support for the limitation measure, both politicians--who are in the midst of reelection campaigns--said they did not plan to place a voluntary limit on contributions to their own campaigns.

Bradley said it would be difficult “to put a lid on what has already been done.”

“If all the candidates were willing to agree to it, I’d certainly abide by it,” he said. “But as a realistic measure, I don’t think it’s going to be possible.”

Bradley’s major opponent, Councilman John Ferraro, who also backs the campaign limitation measure, chided Bradley’s support of limiting donors as “the height of hypocrisy” but agreed that it was too late to impose any fund-raising restrictions on the mayoral race.