Newport council to discuss campaign reform

The City Council on Tuesday will consider forming a committee to determine whether campaign reform is needed in Newport Beach.

City staff is proposing that the committee consist of Mayor Diane Dixon, one other council member and three residents.

The idea for campaign reform began early this year, when Councilman Keith Curry proposed ideas to remedy a series of issues that he said could affect or influence city elections.

Curry proposed changing the time frame in which City Council members can raise money for reelection, establishing a register of lobbyists, amending a city law to give the city attorney full power to enforce campaign rules and regulating donations to slate mail committees.

Individuals can currently donate up to $1,100 to any candidate in an election. The contribution limit is cumulative, meaning that donations to a candidate or a candidate-controlled committee are added together to reach the $1,100 cap.

However, committees not controlled by a single candidate, like slate mail organizations which send out mailers either opposing or supporting groups of candidates, are not considered in the calculation of the contribution limits.

Curry has suggested that any donation to a slate mail committee count as a donation to the supported candidates on a pro rata basis, in an effort to keep candidates within the limits of campaign contribution laws.

He has also suggested that council members should be prohibited from raising money for reelection until the year of the given election.

He said the current system provides for an “unending campaign atmosphere that will detract from the work of the city and will coarsen the political discourse, as it has done in neighboring cities where this takes place.”

In response to the proposed reforms, Dixon presented an idea during a council meeting last month that officials consider creating a working group of council members and other residents to look into campaign procedures and recommend any changes.

If council approves its formation, residents will have the opportunity to apply to be on the committee. Dixon would interview and select the candidates, who would then be confirmed by the City Council.

Curry said Friday he is interested in being a member.

“I’m pleased this is moving forward,” he said. “I think the residents are ready for political reform. We’ve identified some loopholes that need to be fixed in our current laws.”

The City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 100 Civic Center Drive.