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.”
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