Nestande Bound by Local Law, Judge Says

Supervisor Bruce Nestande and contributors to his campaign for lieutenant governor are not exempt from Orange County’s tough restrictions on political contributions, a Superior Court judge ruled Thursday morning.

After a 90-minute hearing, Orange County Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan decided that the county’s so-called TIN CUP campaign ordinance “is not unconstitutional on its face or in its application” and that it applies to supervisors when they run for local or statewide office.

Political experts said Thursday that Ryan’s ruling was “a new interpretation” of campaign law and could lead to stiffer political contribution limits statewide.

Nestande, Backers Sued

Hampered by fund-raising difficulties in his bid for lieutenant governor, Nestande and several supporters sued the county and the Board of Supervisors last August in an effort to exempt him and his donors from the county restrictions.

At the time the suit was filed, attorney Gary Proctor said Nestande had been unconstitutionally hampered by the county law in his efforts to raise money for the statewide contest.

Under the local ordinance, donors are required to make extensive disclosures about their business dealings if they give more than $1,534 to an individual member of the Board of Supervisors during any 48-month period. Supervisors, in turn, are disqualified from voting on any matters brought before the board by “major donors”--those who give more than the $1,534 limit.

Join Nestande Suit

Businessmen John Rau and Roger Slates and Republican Party activist Stella Sandoval joined Nestande in his suit against the county, the board and Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks. The three plaintiffs said in their lawsuit that they want to make contributions to Nestande’s lieutenant governor campaign in excess of $1,534--but only if the county ordinance does not apply to such contributions.

The TIN CUP--”Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics”--ordinance was adopted by the board in 1978. County Counsel Adrian Kuyper has interpreted the law to apply to county officials who seek statewide office because it refers to campaigns generally and does not specify which campaigns are included and which are exempt.

But John Mueller, the attorney who represented Nestande during the Thursday morning hearing, argued that “the scope of the ordinance is far from clear.”

Mueller, a San Francisco-based attorney who specializes in election law, contended that any campaign for statewide office is covered by the California Government Code, which includes the Political Reform Act. THese laws, he contended, should preempt Orange County’s TIN CUP law.

“What is at issue is whether or not a local government can control other races outside of their boundaries--statewide races, races for Congress, elections other than elections for county office,” Mueller said. “This (Orange County’s ordinance) is the only instance in which a local government entity is trying to push its laws on someone running for a statewide office.”

‘He’s Treated Unequally’

Applying the TIN CUP restrictions to Nestande’s statewide campaign, Mueller said, imposes on him a campaign contribution limit that does not apply to other contenders for the same job.

“Nestande’s governed by laws they (his opponents) are not governed by, so he’s treated unequally,” Mueller said.

But Deputy County Counsel Terry Andrus argued that the ordinance is not preempted by state law, that it serves the compelling interest of preserving the integrity of the electoral process and is thus constitutional. As long as Nestande is a supervisor in Orange County, Andrus said, it should apply to him and to his major contributors.

“Since there are no restrictions on spending contributions, then all a supervisor would have to do is declare for another office, collect campaign contributions for that office” and spend them on his next supervisorial race, Andrus said.

Judge Ryan, in her ruling denying Nestande’s request for an exemption from the Orange County law, said the purpose of the ordinance was not to “regulate statewide candidates or races,” but rather to “ensure that decisions are not unduly influenced by campaign contributions.”

Lynn Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said Ryan’s ruling “is a new interpretation.” The commission interprets and enforces the state Political Reform Act, which was adopted in 1974 and governs political contributions.

“All the other local ordinances in the state are always preempted by our law once someone becomes a state candidate,” Montgomery said in an interview. “It (Ryan’s ruling) is a new interpretation because we would have assumed that once you run for statewide office, the Political Reform Act is traditionally the only one that affects you.”

Montgomery called the TIN CUP ordinance the toughest local law of its kind in the state and said Ryan’s ruling could have an extensive effect on political fund-raising statewide.

“I could see where other (jurisdictions) might see reasons to extend their local ordinances” to have an effect over state elections, she said.

Although Nestande was disappointed about the decision, he said in a telephone interview that he would not appeal.

“This was not unexpected,” he said. “And it’s not going to affect us. All we wanted to do was clarify the ground rules. It is our contention that when you run for another race, the state rules should apply. The court in Orange County did not rule that way, so we will raise money accordingly.”

$80,000 Raised So Far

Nestande said he has raised $80,000 so far in his bid for lieutenant governor--$50,000 in contributions and $30,000 in a loan from his supervisoral campaign committee to his statewide effort. “And we haven’t really started our fund-raising efforts yet,” he said.

Other supervisors displayed mixed reactions to Ryan’s decision. Thomas F. Riley said the ruling is unfair to Orange County officials.

“There’s a fairness side to this, of a person running for higher office and being penalized,” he said.

But Harriett Wieder said: “As long as this ordinance governs those of us in public office in Orange County, it has to be for whatever we do.” If Nestande was exempted, “it would open up a Pandora’s Box. It would give Supervisor Nestande privileges the rest of us don’t have.”