Task force hashes out anti-corruption plan
Pasadena Star-News
PASADENA, CA — A city-appointed task force will consider making contribution limits a part of Measure B, an anti-corruption law passed by voters in 2001.
The proposal is one of a series of recommendations set to be debated Thursday by the Task Force on Good Government.
Others include banning contributions from companies seeking contracts with the city and exempting nonprofit organizations from the measure’s restrictions.
“I think it is pretty good public policy,” said John Van de Kamp, the former California attorney general tapped to chair the task force.
“We may ultimately be the poster child for other cities.”
When the City Council appointed the commission in October, the idea was for local government experts to comb through the measure and remove any confusing, contradictory or unconstitutional provisions.
Nine meetings later, and after hearing hours of testimony from campaign consultants, elections law experts and City Council members, the task force has returned a proposed revision that strengthens the restrictions and retains many of the provisions council members pegged as most troublesome.
“In some ways it will be stronger, in some cases not as strong,” said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, who served as a consultant to the task force. “I think if these recommendations are adopted, it would be a better law.”
Stern helped write the Political Reform Act of 1974, the primary conflict-of-interest law for California.
Most of the changes have the support of the initiative’s sponsor, the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which spent the last four years defending the measure in court.
Carmen Balber, a consumer advocate with the watchdog group, said she opposes the exemption for nonprofits, saying it “opens a loophole for abuses.” But, she added, the overall changes appear to uphold the voters’ intent to crack down on influence peddling.
More surprising, the recommendations have been embraced by Mayor Bill Bogaard, a vocal critic of Measure B and leader of an unsuccessful campaign to defeat the ballot initiative in 2001.
“At least this is balanced and logical,” Bogaard said. “What was objectionable is the structure of the original legislation was illogical.”
The mayor’s turnabout has much to do with the fact that a homegrown task force, made up of Pasadena residents, reviewed the measure and gave it their blessing.
For instance, the measure restricts council members from taking a job from any entity that receives a city benefit of $25,000 or more. Bogaard and his colleagues argued the provision violated their First Amendment right to seek employment.
“I was unwilling to accept the provision until now,” Bogaard said. But, he added, “I don’t concede that the ballot measure is constitutional.”
The council appointed the task force shortly after the California Supreme Court ruled the city no longer had the legal right to block its implementation.
Councilman Chris Holden argued at the time that the task force should be limited to cleaning up the existing language of Measure B, rather than looking at the broader issue of campaign finance reforms.
Holden said Tuesday that the task force overstepped its bounds.
“We didn’t ask them to look at contribution limits,” he said. “When you start trying to limit that, you are limiting the ability for citizens to communicate to other citizens.”
The recommendation calls for a $1,000 limit for council races and $2,000 for mayoral races.
The recommendations also include a ban on contributions from anyone with business pending before the city. Measure B already prohibits businesses from giving gifts, jobs or campaign contributions to city officials that have approved projects valued at $25,000 or more.
Additionally, the task force will consider stricter disclosure requirements for companies that have done business with the city, applying Measure B restrictions to ballot measure committees controlled by public officials, and giving the District Attorney’s office subpoena power to enforce the local law.
The task force will vote on the recommendations Thursday at a meeting in the Jackie Robinson Center. If adopted, the recommendations will then go to the City Council for possible inclusion on the June primary election ballot.
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