Bennett Launches New Campaign-Reform Initiative

Ventura City Councilman Steve Bennett, the city’s tireless advocate for campaign finance reform, announced Monday that he will launch a ballot initiative for November 1998 to prohibit all organized groups from giving money to candidates.

In 1995, 81% of Ventura voters approved a campaign-finance reform law written by Bennett that forbade organized groups and Political Action Committees (PACs) from contributing to City Council elections.

But the City Council voted 5 to 2 in June to reverse that provision of the law after City Atty. Bob Boehm warned that such limitations could be considered unconstitutional if found to violate free-speech rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

At the time, Bennett pointed out that San Diego has had a similar campaign-finance ordinance in place since 1973, and it has never been challenged.

If PACs contribute, Bennett argued, there would be no way to monitor how much individuals give.

“People are going to be able to legally launder money,” Bennett predicted at the time of the reversal. “I’m growing increasingly concerned that we have opened a loophole that will negate campaign limits altogether.”

Two months later he feels just as strongly.

“I think the council abused the trust of citizens when they agreed to modify the law,” Bennett said Monday.

Like Bennett’s original ordinance, the new initiative would limit campaign contributions to individuals. It would also include safeguards to ensure strict reporting procedures, regardless of any legal challenges.

If the courts rule that PACs have a right to contribute, for example, the initiative would still require that they be subjected to the same reporting requirements as candidates. The initiative would require that even if an individual contributed to a PAC, the total personal and group donations could not exceed the contribution limit.

Finally, Bennett’s proposed initiative would prevent the City Council from making any changes to the law in the future.

Councilman Gary Tuttle, who did not support amending Bennett’s initial campaign contribution ordinance, welcomed his new proposal.

“If he asks me to help him, I will,” Tuttle said. “When the citizens speak that loudly with that percentage of the vote, we should be supporting the law, not trying to weaken it.”

But other City Council members questioned Bennett’s motives for pursuing a new and more restrictive ordinance.

Councilman Ray Di Guilio called Bennett’s latest move a tool that will allow him to manipulate the fall campaign even though he is not running.

“Why did I know this was going to happen?” Di Guilio said. “This is classic Steve Bennett. It’s a way of having a hand in the council election just like he did last time, even though he wasn’t running.”

Bennett’s amended ordinance will go into effect for the first time this fall.

It stipulates that anyone who gives more than $25 to a political campaign must be identified. It also prohibits any candidate from receiving an individual contribution of more than $100 unless that candidate agrees to spend less than $20,000. In this case, the candidate can receive up to $200.

The newly proposed initiative would not go on the ballot until November 1998, Bennett said. It would be drafted this fall, and signature gathering would commence following this November’s council election.

In the upcoming election, however, Voters Coalition, a Bennett-led group that endorses candidates, will ask each council candidate to voluntarily abide by the law approved by the voters in 1995, Bennett said.

“Until we change the law, we hope all candidates agree only to accept contributions from individuals,” said Joy Kobayashi, one of 10 steering-committee members for Voters Coalition.

Council members Jim Monahan, Rosa Lee Measures and Jim Friedman said they voted to amend the voter-approved law because the city attorney gave them clear direction to do so.

“Our city attorney has advised us that it is illegal the way it stands,” Monahan said. “He wouldn’t have brought it to our attention if he did not believe it was illegal.”

Monahan and Measures also cited fear of a costly lawsuit as a reason for taking a more conservative approach and amending the law at the behest of the city attorney.

Friedman added that Bennett’s proposed initiative will only hurt the “little guy”--not the large contributors who can funnel large sums of money indirectly to candidates in the form of expensive brochures.

“Let’s say you had 10 people living on the Avenue, who couldn’t afford to give very much,” Friedman said, “so they form a PAC, they follow all the guidelines. Now this newly formed PAC can contribute a maximum of $125. Their voice can be heard a little stronger now.”