Lid Urged on Donations to Council Campaigns : Ventura: Bennett wants a $100 limit on political contributions. In some cases, city would subsidize the candidates.

Declaring the need to “restore integrity” to Ventura’s political process, Councilman Steve Bennett will ask his colleagues Monday to consider a campaign reform law that would limit contributions to $100.

“A large segment of the population feels that politicians are beholden to the special interests who can afford to make large donations,” he said. “If you limit (contributors) to $100, then people will be less likely to think council members can be bought.”

Bennett’s proposal would ban political contributions of more than $100 by individuals, businesses or political action groups. The contribution limit would extend to any group formed to support or oppose City Council candidates.

In last year’s contentious council race, candidates regularly received donations greater than Bennett’s proposed limit, as did committees formed to elect or defeat candidates.

Bennett pledged at the time not to accept contributions of more than $100 and he still raised more than $21,000, one of the largest amounts of all 14 candidates for office.

Altogether, the 1993 council race was the costliest in city history, with candidates and political action groups pulling in $220,000.

Councilman Jim Monahan, for example, received numerous contributions of more than $100 from restaurant owners, whom he supported last spring in an unsuccessful battle to defeat an anti-smoking regulation.

On Friday, Monahan said the campaign donations were in no way related to his vote against the ordinance.

“That’s just the way I philosophically feel,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you who donated to me, or how much. . . . My votes are not for sale, period.”

Bennett also has proposed that the city subsidize candidates’ campaigns if the candidates pledge not to spend more than $20,000. Nevertheless, he said, he knows that it may be difficult to find the money for a plan like that now.

Monahan said he would not support Bennett’s proposal because it would put newcomers at a distinct disadvantage, since many don’t have wide name recognition and must rely on a few large donors to bankroll their campaigns. Incumbents, on the other hand, draw from a large pool of contributors, because they are in the public eye all year, Monahan said.

“I don’t think it would be fair to people who want to run for the City Council in the future,” he said.

He dismissed Bennett--who is in his first term--as an anomaly, noting that he had run unsuccessfully for the council in the past and had begun to build his political base then.

Mayor Tom Buford also said he could not vote for a plan to limit campaign donations.

“I don’t think it’s needed,” he said. “I don’t think we have the kind of problems Steve is talking about. We have a very energetic and active political scene in Ventura.”

Buford said he would oppose a law that puts further restrictions on government. What is needed, he said, is citizen involvement in the political process, so that people act as watchdogs and spot political abuses.

“And I think they do,” he said. “I have a lot of faith in people.”

Councilman Gary Tuttle, however, said he thought Bennett’s proposal had merit.

“It creates better politics in Ventura,” he said. “I think it evens things up. Now, without getting large political contributions it is very, very hard” to run a campaign.