Campaign Finance Reform Vote Put Off

Threatened anew with a veto by the mayor, the Los Angeles City Council balked Wednesday at approving comprehensive changes to campaign finance rules.

The council postponed a vote until Tuesday on a package of 60 ethics rule changes aimed at blunting the influence of large special-interest campaigns on local elections. Council members said they needed additional time to study the proposals by the city Ethics Commission as well as written objections filed by Mayor James K. Hahn and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo.

In an 11th-hour letter to the council, Hahn said he supports many of the changes but would veto the package if it includes certain provisions he believes are unconstitutional or unfair.

The current ordinance says individuals, unions and companies cannot contribute more than $1,000 to candidates for citywide office, but there is no limit on the amount they can spend on a candidate’s behalf as long as they do not coordinate their efforts with the candidate. Hahn and Delgadillo were elected two years ago with significant help from such independent expenditure campaigns.

In the 2001 election, unions, Indian gaming interests, political parties and billboard companies spent a record $3.2 million on independent expenditure campaigns, four times more than was spent on such campaigns in the decade leading up to that election.

To reduce the effect of independent expenditures, the Ethics Commission proposed increasing the ratio of the city’s matching funds to candidates whose opponents benefit from independent campaigns.

Rather than providing $1 in matching funds for every $1 raised, as the law now stands, the city would give disadvantaged candidates $3 for every $1 raised, up to a capped amount that varies by office. Hahn opposes that change, saying it is not always clear who benefits from an independent expenditure.

The commission also proposed lifting spending and contribution limits only for candidates whose opponents benefit from independent expenditures. Currently, if a major independent campaign benefits one candidate, the spending and contribution limits are lifted for that candidate and all others.

Ethics Commission President Miriam Krinsky said that rule provides an “irrational windfall” for the candidate who benefits from a special-interest campaign.

“This package tries to give candidates a chance to have their voices heard and not drowned out by increasing independent expenditures,” Krinsky told the council.

Hahn said he would veto the provisions that benefit some candidates but not others because Delgadillo’s office has said they do not appear to be constitutional.

Other groups, including California Common Cause and the Center for Governmental Studies, say the law would withstand a court challenge. Because of that, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel sought unsuccessfully to get the council to approve the Ethics Commission recommendations Wednesday.

“We need to restore public confidence in the system and tell people we are not going to allow outside interests to corrupt our election system,” Greuel said.