HUNTINGTON BEACH : Mayor Wants Outside Attorney in Lawsuit

Mayor Linda Moulton Patterson will ask her colleagues at tonight’s City Council meeting to consider hiring an outside attorney to fight a lawsuit challenging the city’s campaign reform law.

“My whole point is that the people wanted campaign reform and we worked hard on the ordinance.” she said. “I just want somebody who’s a specialist in this area” to defend the city.

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 2 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana charging that the city’s campaign law restricts freedom of speech.

“This is simply an incumbency protection law,” said Jim Righeimer, who is in a group of two citizens and two corporations that filed the suit. “We will take (the lawsuit) all the away to the Supreme Court because on its face (the ordinance is) unconstitutional.”

The lawsuit challenges the city’s $300 limit on the amount an individual can contribute to a campaign committee.

Four of the seven seats are open in November’s council race. There is a field of 23 candidates with Councilman Ralph Bauer the only incumbent.

Deputy City Atty. Robert Sangster said the city’s ordinance limits contributions, but not campaign expenditures.

“A political action committee can raise or spend as much money as it wants,” he said. “It just can’t take more than 300 bucks from any one person.”

Moulton Patterson said the reason for the ordinance, which went into effect in January, was to ensure there is a “level playing field” during campaigns.

“There have been independent committees that have put huge sums of money into certain City Council members’ races,” she said. “Our community wanted campaign reform, and we worked very hard on that.”