ANAHEIM : Campaign Funding Limits Set for Ballot

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to place on the November ballot for an advisory vote an ordinance that would limit individual contributions to mayoral and council candidates to $1,000, despite a threat from the city’s largest employee union to sue if the measure is implemented.

The measure, which the council said it would enact if the voters approved the advisory vote, would bar individuals, businesses, political action committees and other organizations from donating more than $1,000 to a candidate for each election.

Since 1984, more than $2 million has been donated to the five current members of the Anaheim council, according to computer-assisted research conducted by the Times Orange County Edition using public documents.

The measure will be on the ballot with a proposal to limit mayors and council members to two consecutive terms. The council approved that proposal for the ballot last month.

“I think $100 should be the limit. But I don’t think anybody else would vote for that,” Mayor Fred Hunter said. “I think this limit, along with the two-term limit, is going to get us all out of here and there’s going to be a level playing field” for all candidates.

But Sharon Ericson, president of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn., said after the meeting that it is her union’s belief such limits violate the state Constitution and hurt smaller contributors and first-time council candidates. The association is among the larger contributors to the city’s campaigns.

“All they were trying to do is make the people think they’re doing something, but they’re not,” Ericson said. “Our members donate about $2 a paycheck to our political action committee and they do that to have a little bit of a voice in the city. And now (council members) want to take that away.”

The council decided to place the measure on the ballot as an advisory, rather than binding, vote. City Atty. Jack White said that courts have been handing down different rulings in the area of campaign contributions, and the council needed flexibility in changing the city’s ordinance to reflect those orders. If the measure was binding, only voters could alter the measure and that could be costly and time-consuming, White said.

Orange County and several local cities, including Irvine and Orange, have restrictions on campaign contributions, and Santa Ana is considering placing a similar charter amendment on its November ballot.

Councilman Irv Pickler has been the most successful Anaheim fund-raiser, with more than $636,000 raised since 1984. Mayor Fred Hunter has raised more than $575,000 during that time. Among the other council members, William D. Ehrle has raised more than $574,000 since 1987, Tom Daly more than $299,000 since 1988 and Bob D. Simpson more than $146,000 since 1990.

Under the proposal, candidates would not be prohibited from giving more than $1,000 to their own campaigns, but the proposed measure would bar candidates from receiving such large contributions from their spouses.

Married couples could not give more than $1,000 collectively to a candidate unless it can be shown that the money is controlled separately.