LAGUNA BEACH : Council to Consider $250 Donation Limit

The City Council will kick off what is expected to be a lively political year Tuesday by considering a campaign-reform measure that would limit donations to $250 per person.

With the cost of elections rising here in recent years, some city leaders feel that restrictions are needed to keep wealthy contributors from having a disproportionate influence on city government.

Wording in the proposed ordinance says controls are needed to maintain “public trust in government institutions and the electoral process.”

Opponents, however, say the measure is unnecessarily complicated, may not hold up in court and would unfairly aid incumbents, three of whom are up for reelection in November.

“Primarily, our main concern is that this is going to end up favoring incumbents,” said Michele L. Oliver, executive director of United Laguna, a group that has been critical of the council majority in the past.

But most council members already have signaled their intention to adopt such restrictions, voting 4 to 1 in November to move forward with the proposal once revisions were made. Councilman Wayne Peterson cast the dissenting vote.

The ordinance was crafted by the League of Women Voters of Orange Coast and Orange County Common Cause and has the backing of Village Laguna, the city’s largest political action committee.

The law would not limit the amount of their own money candidates can spend.

Many residents are expecting the 1994 council race to be particularly divisive in Laguna Beach, partly because of the political backlash that followed the October fire. Some residents blamed the council majority for not giving earlier support to a water reservoir the residents said would have helped firefighters battle the blaze that claimed 366 homes.

Council members who came under criticism at that time are the same ones whose terms expire this year: Lida Lenney, Robert F. Gentry and Mayor Ann Christoph.

After the fire, then-mayor Lenney asked the state office of emergency services to investigate the city’s response.

The campaign-reform ordinance has been examined by the city attorney’s office and revised, including an adjustment that would allow husbands and wives each to make contributions of $250.