ORANGE : Term, Contribution Limits Proposed

Councilman Mike Spurgeon has asked the City Council to adopt an ordinance that would limit elected terms and campaign contributions.

Spurgeon made the request during this week’s council session, and then asked City Atty. Robert O. Franks to investigate whether Orange, a general law city, can legally adopt a term-limit law. If so, he asked that the city adopt such an ordinance within 90 days.

Spurgeon, the council’s newest member, said he would like to see council members limited to two four-year terms, mayors limited to three two-year terms, and a cap placed on individual campaign contributions.

In making his proposal, Spurgeon cited recent voter support for Proposition 140, which limits terms of state legislators. “Orange voters deserve the same protection against career politicians on a local level,” he said.

Spurgeon said the plan is not directed at fellow council members, but feels the council should enact a term limit before voters demand one.

Orange has a history of long-serving politicians. Former Mayor Don Smith sat 25 years on the council before retiring in 1990, making him the longest serving elected official in Orange County at that time. Mayor Gene Beyer has been on the council for nearly 12 years and Councilman Fred L. Barrera has served almost 20 years.

Reaction to the proposal from the other council members was generally positive.

“I’m a fine one to talk, with as many years as I’ve been on the council,” Barrera said.

“I would have no problem with it. I think the city could probably benefit from some kind of a change.”

Councilman William G. Steiner said he would support term limits and that campaign spending for local elections is already spiraling out of control. Steiner said he spent $6,000 in 1983 for his first school board candidacy compared to $55,000 for his 1990 council race.

“Frankly, I would rather raise money for abused children than chase down political contributions,” said Steiner, who is also executive director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation.

Councilwoman Joanne Coontz said she did not look at “politics as a lifelong career” but that the idea needed further study.

“I think sometimes the reason people go after term limits is because they think a council has been on too long a time and they need new people,” she said. “But you can also lose people who have contributed a lot to the civic community and it can be a loss.”

A cap on contributions would prevent the city’s campaigns from becoming “expensive, abusive spectacles that have occurred in other growing municipalities in Orange County,” Spurgeon said.