Council to Consider Campaign Finance Law

The City Council will consider tonight whether to repeal a 6-year-old Anaheim law on campaign finance contributions and replace it with a new one.

The new law would maintain a $1,000 limit on individual campaign finance contributions, but change the prosecution of election violations from civil to criminal. The proposed law would also allow candidates to continue collecting funds after an election to eliminate campaign debt.

This is the second time in a month, and the third time since March, that the council has considered doing away with the current campaign finance law.

In March, the council rejected two proposals to amend the law. On Sept. 21, by a vote of 2 to 2, the council deadlocked on a repeal that would have forced a default to California state law. The California law does not set limits on individual contributions.

The campaign finance law led to a political mire after the 1996 election when the city appointed a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that Mayor Tom Daly, Councilwoman Shirley McCracken and Councilman Frank Feldhaus, and others, had violated it.

McCracken and Feldhaus eventually paid $6,500 and $10,000 fines respectively. The case against Daly was dismissed.

In January, McCracken called for revising the law. Three workshops were held. The council has generally agreed that a revision is in order, but have disagreed about the $1,000 limit. Councilmen Feldhaus and Tom Tait have said they would like to do away with the limit, while Councilwomen McCracken and Lucille Kring would like to keep it. Daly has abstained from commenting and voting on the subject. “Any of these ordinances puts a limit on political speech and dissent,” Tait said. “What’s on the agenda is better than the existing ordinance, but what we should do is abolish it altogether.”

Kring said most likely she would vote for the replacement. In the discussion preceding last month’s vote, she said a move to remove contribution limits put an undue burden on the business community.

“I’d like to see it passed so we can move onto other issues,” Kring said.

Passing the amended law will eliminate the possibility for any further prosecutions on alleged past campaign finance law violations, but leaves open a possible push for its repeal. The law will keep Anaheim as one of only a few cities in Orange County with campaign finance restrictions.

Judy Silber can be reached at (714) 966-5988.