Ventura to Consider Law on Campaign Donations : Elections: Instead of letting voters decide the issue in the fall, the council may craft a less restrictive ordinance limiting contributions.

Six weeks after refusing to impose campaign contribution limits on themselves, Ventura City Council members Monday will consider crafting an ordinance rather than leaving the issue up to voters.

In December, the council rejected Councilman Steve Bennett’s proposal to limit its members’ campaign contributions to $100 per donor. Council members reversed course last month, however, and agreed to place Bennett’s measure on the November ballot.

But at Monday’s meeting, Councilman Jim Monahan said he was having second thoughts. As he explained afterward, why put such a restrictive measure on this fall’s ballot when the council could ease the impact now?

The proposed initiative “is wrong,” Monahan said. “It’s too restrictive.”

Monahan, however, does not appear to have the support of his colleagues. Mayor Tom Buford and Councilman Gregory L. Carson have said they do not support any of the campaign reform proposals offered so far.

Council members Rosa Lee Measures, Jack Tingstrom, Gary Tuttle and Bennett say they are content to leave the choice up to the voters in the fall.

The initiative would limit campaign contributions for council candidates to $100 per donor, whether the donors represented individuals, businesses or political action groups. But if candidates agreed to limit their overall campaign spending to $20,000, under the initiative they could then receive contributions as high as $200 per donor.

In 1993’s contentious council race, candidates regularly received donations greater than $100, as did committees formed to elect or defeat candidates.

Monahan, for instance, 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.

Of the 14 candidates in that race, at least three raised more than $20,000, including Measures, who raised more than $35,000.

Bennett pledged at the time not to accept contributions of more than $100, and he still raised more than $21,000.

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

Earlier this week, Monahan accused Bennett of pushing the campaign reform issue solely for political advantage.

“I really don’t know what his agenda is,” Monahan said. “I have heard he likes to get on the side of popular causes and ride it for publicity.”

Bennett responded that contribution limits are hardly a new issue for him

“It’s a typical shallow attack from a clear opponent of contribution limits,” he said. “I think the public is far more suspicious of his methods.”

Bennett drew up the initiative with help from citizen groups such as Common Cause, the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters. Jan Stewart, a volunteer for the League, said she also found Monahan’s proposal frustrating.

“I’m very unhappy about it,” she said.