Report Urges Limits on Campaign Spending for 2 Cities

A study of six years’ worth of election financing in Pasadena and West Covina offers dramatic proof that campaign spending and contribution limits are needed in each city, according to a report released today by the California Commission on Campaign Financing.

The tripling of city election costs in Pasadena since elections by district were adopted in 1980 and the infusion in West Covina of more than $233,000 in city elections by the BKK Corp. during the early 1980s demonstrate the need for reform, according to the commission report.

Pasadena should enact spending limits of $35,000 per candidate in each election and contribution limits of $250 from individuals for each candidate, the report by the nonprofit commission suggested.

West Covina should consider asking candidates to agree to a $15,000 spending limit because election costs appear to be rising. It also should adopt a contribution limit of $500 per contributor to independent commidtees in order to limit the sway of outside entities such as the BKK landfill.

Officials in both cities, however, said there wasn’t a need for reform because time and circumstances had cured any problems.

“I don’t think we have an issue that comes close to approaching the magnitude that we had during that time,” said West Covina Mayor Robert Bacon. “We went through a recall and a general election all within a one-year period. Those events are highly unlikely to occur again.”

“It’s a good report and well thought out,” said Pasadena Director Rick Cole, who read a draft copy of the report. “But it doesn’t take into its purview how much has changed since 1987, when it looked like democracy was on the ropes in Pasadena.”

The 373-page report, “Money and Politics in Local Elections: The Los Angeles Area,” took three years to prepare and is the first in-depth study of local campaign financing ever conducted in the United States, its authors say.

It included sophisticated computer analysis of $45 million worth of campaign expenditures from 1979 to 1986 in Los Angeles County and eight cities: Agoura Hills, Gardena, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Signal Hill and West Covina.

In its chapter on Pasadena, the report found that a change from citywide board of director elections to district elections had tripled campaign costs, instead of decreasing them as expected.

“With the electorate drastically reshaped from a single citywide constituency of 133,000 voters to seven district constituencies of 19,000 each, election costs were expected to diminish,” the report said. “Yet exactly the opposite occurred.”

Candidates’ Spending

In 1979, under the citywide runoff format, 10 candidates combined spent $62,000. In 1983, with elections confined to the boundaries of seven districts, 10 candidates spent a total of $196,609.

Among the jurisdictions studied statewide, Pasadena candidates in the years between 1983 and 1985 spent the highest amount per vote, $21.55. Yet, the more they spent, the more likely they were to lose, the report found.

In 1983, incumbent Steve Acker spent $78 per vote, compared with challenger Rick Cole’s winning expenditure of $22 per vote. Challenger Margaret Sedenquist spent $56 per vote in 1985 and lost to incumbent Jess Hughston, who spent $14.

The change to district-only elections also was expected to encourage smaller, individual contributions. Instead, in the 1983 and 1985 elections, 54% of the total contributions in Pasadena were $250 or more. Contributions of $1,000 and more accounted for almost a third of the total.

Sophisticated Campaigns

Pasadena candidates now “take for granted their need for expensive campaign techniques--sophisticated phone bank techniques, slick mailing strategies and consultants” as well as “targeted voter strategies,” the report said.

Without a ceiling on campaign spending, grass-roots campaigns may become obsolete, the report concluded.

But Pasadena Mayor Bill Thomson challenged the report’s analysis, saying that election costs decreased in 1987 and 1988.

“The amounts spent in the March 1989 election were even less,” Thomson said. “I don’t think any of the candidates running for office spent any more than $20,000 to $25,000.”

Campaign reform in Pasadena is unnecessary because of state campaign spending limits on local elections that went into effect last year and the renewed power of community-based politics, Cole said.

In West Covina, the report concluded that, despite a campaign ordinance designed to limit outside influence in city elections, the city is still vulnerable to massive contributions, such as those poured into city campaigns in the early 1980s by BKK.

Recall Campaign

In 1981, when BKK was still operating a toxic dump in the city, it opposed a ballot proposition that would have banned toxic dumping by BKK and stopped construction of a Ponderosa Homes housing project on adjacent land. Both companies spent more than $160,000 to defeat the measure, and proponents spent only $1,482.

After a recall was begun on four council members, BKK spent more than $100,000 to successfully beat the recall. Recall proponents raised only $12,000.

In 1984, BKK poured more than $100,000 into several independent committees that provided unsolicited support for five council candidates favored by BKK. Challenger Mary Lewis asked a BKK-backed independent committee to stop activities on her behalf. Lewis was not elected.

The report suggested that although West Covina now has a campaign contribution limit of $500 per individual, it should close a loophole whereby independent committees are able to accept unlimited contributions and spend the money on behalf of candidates they support, as BKK did in 1984.

Interpreting Law

The report also said the city attorney is incorrectly interpreting the city’s campaign limit law by allowing unlimited loans, like the $7,500 received in 1988 by candidate Brad McFadden from his father.

The report concluded that candidate spending appears to be on the rise. If the council determines spending limits are needed, it recommends that candidates voluntarily agree to a $15,000 ceiling to skirt state Proposition 73, which prohibits general law cities from enacting limits.

Bacon, who initially proposed West Covina’s campaign contribution limits, said he would favor closing any loopholes, including the one pointed out by the report.

The other suggestions involve legal questions that may have to be studied by the city attorney and attorneys statewide, who are still disputing the legal applications of Proposition 73, he said.

WEST COVINA CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

Total contributions from BKK to independent campaign committes versus total contributions to all candidates

Source: California Commission on Campaign Financing Data Analysis. Data for 1982-1984

PASADENA DATA PROFILE

Local Government

STRUCTURE: Charter drafted in 1886; weak mayor system; seven city directors elected by district (as of 1981); mayor appointed; city attorney and city clerk appointed by board of directors.

CITY BUDGET: $206 million (1989).

CITY FACTS: Population (1989): 132,200; area: 23.16 square miles; registered voters (April 1989): 66,308; voter turnout (May 1987): 20%.

Source: California Commission on Campaign Financing Data Analysis. Data for years 1983-1985

WEST COVINA DATA PROFILE

Local Government

STRUCTURE: Founded in 1923; general law city; weak mayor system; five city council members elected at large; mayor appointed by council to a one-year term; city attorney appointed by council and retained by contract.

CITY BUDGET: $40 million (fiscal year 1988-89).

CITY FACTS: Population (1989): 94,200; area: 17 square miles; registered voters (April 1989): 42,455; voter turnout (April 1988): 17%.

Contributions

Source: California Commission on Campaign Financing Data Analysis. Data for 1982-1984