Thousand Oaks Council OKs Spending Cap on Elections

While many of the issues may sound familiar, at least one thing may distinguish November’s City Council campaign from the recent recall battle: There could be a lot less cash involved.

Hoping to check campaign spending and keep the focus on the issues, the City Council on Tuesday approved a voluntary $25,000 spending cap on the upcoming election.

In a separate action, the council also agreed to accept applications for a 10-member citizens panel to draft more detailed campaign finance limits.

Both measures were approved unanimously after nearly two hours of debate and tinkering.

The two measures look at campaign finance reform in the wake of a judge’s decision to strike down Proposition 208, which set strict $250 contribution limits. While council members approved the ideas in concept, city staffers will return with more specific proposals in upcoming weeks.

The short-term antidote to spiraling campaign costs--the voluntary spending cap--was written by Councilwoman Elois Zeanah to address the upcoming election. That is when her seat, and those of council members Andy Fox and Judy Lazar, will be up for grabs.

At one point last year, all three were the subjects of recall drives, although none was ousted. About $400,000 was spent by people backing or opposing the ouster of Zeanah.

“If this cap is not in place, I am convinced we’ll have $100,000 spent on individual council campaigns,” Zeanah said Wednesday. “That is obscene. It should not happen.”

Fox proposed the longer-range citizens committee to address individual contributions to campaigns, possible mandatory spending limits and new rules on contribution disclosure.

He had originally suggested that groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and League of Women Voters appoint their own representatives to the panel. By Tuesday night’s end, however, the council had agreed to open membership on the panel to anyone. If more than 10 people apply, the city will figure out later how to winnow the group down.

While Zeanah’s spending limit is fine for the short term, “the bigger issue is making sure the public knows how much candidates raise, where the money is coming from and that they have that information well before election day,” Fox said.

In recent years, the cost of a council race has risen.

According to campaign documents filed with the city clerk, three successful candidates in the 1986 council election collected about $20,000 among them.

In contrast, 1994’s victors shelled out between $21,644 and $36,334 each. And the biggest spender in 1996, Mike Markey, now mayor, put $49,235 into his campaign.