Panel to Study Campaign Financing

It has baffled senators. Befuddled city council members. And kept lawyers and jurists very, very busy.

Now the thorny topic of campaign finance in this politically fractured town goes to a committee of 18 Thousand Oaks residents.

Still smarting from an exorbitantly expensive council recall drive last year, city lawmakers have charged a citizens panel with crafting reform suggestions in time for the November election, when three City Council seats are up for grabs.

Starting Monday, a disparate group of homemakers, tax consultants and clean-government activists known as the Citizens’ Blue Ribbon Campaign Finance Reform Committee will get to work.

Its task won’t be easy, according to Los Angeles lawyer Craig Steele, who specializes in election and campaign law.

“I think this is a tough issue,” said Steele, who has been hired, and can be paid up to $15,000 to assist the group. “If it were an easy issue, we wouldn’t have court challenges to the various ballot initiatives and we wouldn’t have various cities attempting local regulations.”

Among the panel’s challenges: Consider constraints on contributions in the wake of a judge’s decision--now under appeal--to strike down Proposition 208, a 1996 initiative that set $250 contribution limits in state and local races.

Other challenges include rising above the rhetoric that characterizes much of Thousand Oaks’ political discourse, and meeting a mid-May deadline for forwarding suggestions to the City Council so elected leaders can get a law on the books before the next election.

Panelists say they are determined to curb the role money plays in politics in such a way that the City Council will be inclined to make the suggestions into law.

“I’d like to see us draft a recommended ordinance that will withstand the current challenge of Proposition 208,” said tax accountant Jim Bruno, the group’s co-chairman.

Among Bruno’s concerns: crafting rules that are fair to incumbents--who get free publicity from news coverage and cable TV--and to challengers--who must buy their publicity.

“What we don’t want to do is draft an incumbents’ relief act,” he said. “I’d like to see the playing field leveled as much as possible without violating the rights of either aspirant.”

The group will begin with a blank slate. The city of Thousand Oaks has no comprehensive campaign finance law, despite repeated attempts to write one. There are no contribution limits for City Council races, although the council has approved a voluntary $25,000 spending cap for the November contest.

With Proposition 208 in limbo, the state lacks contribution limits as well, but there are rules requiring disclosure of contributions worth more than $100. Federal rules set a $1,000 limit on individual contributions to campaigns.

According to data gathered by California Common Cause, contribution limits vary in the state’s largest cities. Often limits for council elections are set lower than those for citywide offices, such as mayor or city attorney.

For city council elections, San Diego, San Jose and Long Beach curb contributions to $250; in San Jose, that number falls to $100 if a candidate does not consent to a voluntary spending cap. No one can give more than $500 to a council candidate in Los Angeles. Sacramento was considering a $1,000 limit for council candidates, but turned to a citizens committee for suggestions instead.

Ideas for limiting campaign finances in Thousand Oaks--where City Council races typically cost $15,000 to $35,000--are almost as diverse as the committee members.

Committee member Paul Herzog, a community organizer who ran for council in 1992, believes no private money should be spent on campaigns. He supports eliminating corporate donations to campaigns in favor of public financing.

Like several committee members, Herzog said his concern about campaign finance issues came to a head during an unsuccessful recall drive against Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, during which more than $400,000 was spent by her foes and friends.

Committee co-chairwoman Dot Engle, a League of Women Voters member, also is concerned about newcomers’ ability to reach voters, but she proposed milder solutions.

“The community benefits by giving people an equal chance to run for office,” she said. “That may mean free air time, for example, so candidates can tell people what their values are and what they would hope to accomplish in office access. Or maybe it means providing a platform for all candidates so they can appear with one another.”

Panelist Michael Farris, a scientist who is pursuing an Assembly seat, is worried about the possibility--or appearance--that big money buys votes.

“It seems like a lot of money is being thrown around to have decisions come out a certain way,” he said. “So I will certainly fight to ban corporate contributions to City Council candidates.”

Tempering these passions with pragmatism will be lawyer Steele’s job.

A former political consultant, Steele will assist the group with the legal complexities of contribution limits, disclosure requirements and voluntary regulation of expenditures while ensuring that free speech rights aren’t trampled along the way.

Given the frenzy that surrounds everything from planning commission races to new retail developments in Thousand Oaks, Cal State Los Angeles counseling professor Leo Orange hopes panelists will approach the task with open minds.

“I hope we don’t all bring our own agendas to the table,” said Orange, who is also a counselor at Oxnard College. “We need to look at the whole picture, try not to be biased and remember that we’re working for the good of everyone.”

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Committee Members

So who are the residents charged with recommending ways to restrict campaign financing in Thousand Oaks? Eighteen members of the Citizens’ Blue Ribbon Campaign Finance Reform Committee are:

Jim Bruno, a certified financial planner and member of the Citizens’ Budget Task Force (co-chairman).

Dot Engle, active in the League of Women Voters and the American Assn. of University Women (co-chairwoman).

Michael Farris, a scientist involved in the Reform Party of California who is running for the Assembly.

Edward Fishkin, a political consultant who is not involved in city campaigns.

Paul Herzog, a community organizer involved in Ralph Nader’s Oaks Project, a citizen advocacy organization.

Ralph Jacobson, a former school board trustee active in homeowners associations.

Fred Kimball Jr., a political consultant active in state and national, but not local, campaigns.

Cathy Koch, a homemaker and volunteer.

Leo Orange, an assistant professor of counseling at Cal State Los Angeles.

Claudia Pelletier of Biopath Medical.

Sharon Pfeifer, who works in mortgage loans.

Nick Quidwai, clean-government activist.

John Relle, a retired IBM marketing executive involved in the Citizens’ Action Network.

Daryl Reynolds, a community volunteer who has been active in local campaigns.

Mitch Rheingold, a stockbroker who gathered signatures for Proposition 208, a state campaign-limits measure.

Cathy Schutz, a homeowners association activist.

Martha Van Heyde Huggins, a library worker who is active in the League of Women Voters.

Stephen P. Wiman, an attorney.

FYI

The Citizens’ Blue Ribbon Campaign Finance Reform Committee will meet at 4 p.m. Monday in the Park Room of the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. Meetings, which are open to the public, are tentatively scheduled for each Monday through mid-May.