Unz Plans Campaign Reform Initiative

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ron Unz, who turned the school establishment on its head with his successful drive to ban bilingual education, is taking aim at California’s political movers and shakers with a sweeping campaign reform initiative.

Called the “voters bill of rights,” his catch-all ballot measure would restrict political contributions and spending, ban corporate donations, provide limited public matching funds for campaigns, boost disclosure requirements, limit legislators’ salaries and turn the task of redrawing district lines over to an independent commission.

Unz, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor in 1994, has joined with Democrat Tony Miller, a former acting secretary of state and twice unsuccessful candidate for statewide office, to launch the drive to place the measure on the March 2000 ballot.

The unlikely collaborators plan to formally unveil the initiative today. If it is successful, they hope it will spark a nationwide movement.

Unz, who spent about $750,000 of his own money on last year’s anti-bilingual education Proposition 227, said he is poised to help “in a significant way” with the initiative campaign.

“We do have a very corrupt election . . . and campaign system in California and that hurts everyone in the state,” Unz said Wednesday.

Twice since 1988, California voters have approved similar--though less far-reaching--initiatives intended to bolster campaign disclosure requirements and curb the impact of big money on politics. But the measures have been overturned by or tied up in the courts.

Unz has been mindful of those cases in drafting his initiative, which he says contains more realistic provisions, including higher contribution limits.

Although elements of the proposed initiative will probably be embraced by some Democrats and Republicans, others, such as various special interest groups, may be wary of the Unz-led measure. Business interests, for example, are expected to strongly oppose the ban on corporate donations.

Miller expects the initiative campaign to be closely watched across the nation. “If this passes, it will set an example for not only other states but for the Congress,” he said.

Unz, a self-made millionaire, won passage of Proposition 227 last year with little more than a fax machine, two paid helpers and his own bank account. He said he was disturbed by the big money spent against that initiative, including $1.5 million by A. Jerrold Perenchio, owner of the broadcast network Univision.

Unz was also angered that slate mailers, even some conservative-leaning ones, would not back Proposition 227 unless he paid for space on the mailers. “And the opposition bought up all the slates,” he said.

Now, Unz may even the score.

He said he’s been kicking around reform ideas for months, hooking up a month or so ago with Miller. Miller led the campaign for Proposition 208 on the 1996 ballot.

Proposition 208 would limit individual contributions to $500 for statewide candidates and $250 for legislative candidates. The limits would double for candidates who accepted restrictions on campaign spending. Last year, a federal judge blocked the measure, leaving the state without limits on donations to candidates.

If the Unz-Miller measure won voter approval and Proposition 208 were reinstated, Unz said, the lower limits of Proposition 208 would take effect.

The Unz-Miller initiative proposes much higher donation limits, $5,000 per election to any statewide candidate and $3,000 to any other legislative or local candidate.

The measure also would set voluntary spending limits of $6 million for initiatives and $16 million for governor, including the primary and general election.

Under the Unz-Miller proposal, initiative campaigns and gubernatorial candidates would be eligible for up to $1 million in matching state funds per election, while other statewide candidates would be eligible for up to $300,000.

Two other provisions don’t relate directly to fund-raising but do affect legislators.

One would limit the tax-free $121 a day given to lawmakers when they are in Sacramento and the Legislature is in session. The other would slow the rate of pay raises for elected officeholders.

The final portion would turn the task of redrawing district lines after the federal census over to a nine-member commission made up of retired judges.