Campaign Reform Act Is Softened and Delayed : Elections: Ordinance will take effect after the March 2 vote. Filing nominations close for two of four municipal seats that will be on the ballot.

One week after tentatively adopting a tough campaign reform act, the City Council this week softened the act’s provisions and voted to delay putting it into effect until after the March 2 municipal election.

The revised ordinance will come before the council for review on Monday and adoption on Jan. 11, City Atty. Arnold M. Glasman said.

The council’s decision to delay the measure came as filing of nominations closed Monday for City Council districts where incumbents Ken West and Boyd Bredenkamp are seeking reelection. Each drew two opponents.

Filing will remain open until Monday for the office of mayor--since Donna Smith is not seeking reelection--and for the seat Councilman Tomas Ursua will vacate to run for mayor.

The proposed campaign reform act would apply to any runoff elections next spring. Runoffs will be held April 20 for elections in which no one captures a majority of the votes March 2.

The reform measure would prohibit donors from giving more than $500 to a council candidate and $1,000 to a mayoral candidate, starting with the runoff campaigns. Currently, there are no contribution limits.

In revising the act this week, the council removed a provision that would have prohibited candidates from accepting contributions from people who do business with the city.

Councilman West, who voted with the council majority for that provision a week ago, said that upon reflection he considered the restriction so sweeping that candidates would always be at risk of violating it. “You’d be afraid to take a dime from anyone,” he said.

Other council members said that candidates would have no way of knowing who did--or was about to do--business with the city unless the city clerk compiled a list that could take a long time to assemble and would constantly change.

Councilwoman Paula Lantz, who has pressed for campaign reform, said she was less concerned about screening contributors than in making sure that candidates disclose all sources of funds. Lantz and West unsuccessfully sought to persuade the council to require candidates to list every person or group that gives $50 or more.

Other council members argued that disclosure should be required only for donations of $100 or more, which is the requirement under state law.

Mayor Smith said she has held campaign fund-raisers attended by hundreds of people and that reporting small donations would be a “nightmare.” Besides, she said, some donors do not want their names disclosed to avoid incurring the wrath of other politicians who do not receive their contributions.

“You have rights of contributors you have to look at,” she said.

Councilwoman Nell Soto sought to delay adoption of the campaign reform act until after both the March 2 election and the April runoff, saying some candidates had already started raising money under the old rules. “It is wrong for us to impose new rules and regulations now,” she said.

Lantz argued that since the campaigns are just beginning, no one would be hurt by putting the reform in effect immediately, but other council members voted as a compromise to delay implementation until the April runoff.

The 1993 municipal elections will complete the city’s transition from a council elected citywide to one elected entirely by district.

Bredenkamp, who won a special election in 1990 to replace recalled Councilman C.L. (Clay) Bryant, was the last council member to run citywide. He will seek reelection in District 3, which takes in the southeastern part of Pomona.

Bredenkamp, 51, who owns a Pomona doughnut shop, said he is seeking another term to continue efforts to stimulate the city’s economic growth.

Challenging Bredenkamp will be Albert Midgette, 31, publisher of a directory of minority-owned businesses, and Cristina N. Carrizosa, 50, a bilingual resource teacher at Philadelphia Elementary School.

Midgette said he is concerned about graffiti, gang violence and drive-by shootings. He said Pomona is “under siege” and its negative image is hurting business.

Carrizosa said she, too, is concerned about gangs and graffiti and also will work for affordable child care and better recreational opportunities for children.

In the District 5, which includes Phillips Ranch and the Westmont area, West, 41, an accountant and payroll supervisor with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, will seek his second term. West said Pomona is moving in a positive direction and he wants another term to continue a number of projects, including cutting government and its costs.

West will be opposed by Donald L. Andrews, 62, a retired painter, and Elliott Rothman, 34, an accounting student at the University of La Verne.

Andrews, who belongs to numerous civic organizations and will serve as leader of the Pomona Elks Lodge next year, said his concerns include the need for increased police patrolling.

Rothman said he favors a cut in the city utility tax and less reliance on expensive outside consultants, such as the firm that recently analyzed costs of city services for a fee of $195,000.

Rothman also criticized West’s support of a plan that would permit new billboards along freeways in exchange for removal of old billboards elsewhere in the city.