Newport campaign reform begins

June Casagrande

Campaign reform for municipal elections will get its day in council

chambers, officials decided Tuesday.

In study session, City Council members agreed to discuss at a

future meeting the question of whether and how the city should tweak

and tighten ordinances governing council races. But even as members

agreed to pursue the matter further, the council was deeply divided

on what specific remedies it might want to consider.

City Atty. Bob Burnham laid out seven options -- some of which

were popular enough that they’re likely to become law while others

are already dead in the water.

Most council members who spoke agreed it’s a good idea to consider

requiring all candidates, campaign committees and their treasurers to

undergo training on how to properly file campaign finance statements.

A rule that would require campaigners to file the scripts for

telephone messages and other promotional materials also was popular.

But an item Councilman John Heffernan proposed that had been the

launching point of the entire discussion met with solid resistance.

Heffernan proposed that the city set up rules to avoid the potential

conflict created when a paid political consultant benefits

financially from the decisions of council members he helped put in

office. Heffernan proposed that the council take a cue from the city

of Los Angeles, whose newly minted regulation to limit these

relationships will take effect July 1.

“Perhaps you might want to wait until after July 1 to see if Los

Angeles gets any serious legal challenges,” Burnham suggested. The

council ultimately agreed.

Another suggestion that Greenlight Committee spokesman Phil Arst

called “disingenuous” was a plan to restrict committees or

individuals who collect contributions on a candidate’s behalf and

then distribute the money to candidates. The proposed rule, which did

not earn council members’ support, would have limited the amount

given to candidates in this manner to just $500, the current limit

for an individual contributor. Greenlight collects donations for

candidates it supports.

But the one thing all council members did agree on, with city

staff and special counsel all chiming in agreement: “You’re talking

about leveling the playing field and making everything fair,”

Councilman Tod Ridgeway said, “but that’s an impossibility. We’ll

never be able to make it completely level.”