The West Hollywood City Council is considering a change to the city’s campaign finance laws allowing candidates to continue to raise money to pay off campaign debt for an unlimited time after a campaign has ended.
On a 4-1 vote at its Monday night meeting, the Council instructed the city attorney to draft an amendment changing the current law, which states that candidates must stop fundraising six months after an election, regardless of whether campaign debt has been paid off.
Councilmember John Heilman, who introduced the item, said that the current law had the unintended consequence of putting city law in conflict with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission’s rules, which state that campaign accounts can’t be terminated if there is outstanding debt.
“We assumed that everyone would have their debt paid off six months after that election and, in fact, I don’t think that is the case,” Heilman said. “This would give those campaigns the opportunity to raise the money to pay off those debts.”
Councilmember John D’Amico opposed the item.
“It gives the impression the city is for sale without end,” D’Amico said. “I’m troubled that this is returning us to a policy of a revolving door; take people out to lunch and ask them for money while they’re trying to get something from us.”
In years past, some residents have accused councilmembers of voting in favor of projects after receiving campaign donations.
“If we agree to this, we are agreeing to a fish-lined slippery slope that stinks,” D’Amico said. “Unless you want to wait for new developers to come through the door to ask for money, I can’t believe you can’t contact people within six months to raise money to pay off your debts.”
Mayor Jeffrey Prang, who supported the item, called it an “administrative correction.” He reminded everyone that $500 is still the maximum campaign donation allowed under city law regardless of whether it is made before or after an election.
Prang also stressed that the ordinance would only allow campaigns to pay off existing debt.
“They should not be incurring new debt,” Prang said. “The only debt that should be incurred is raising money to satisfy the old debt. They should not be having new expenses.”
Councilmember Abbe Land said the discussion wasn’t really necessary as they were merely instructing the city attorney to come up with language for the ordinance. The Council could debate the merits of the ordinance when it comes back in two months.
The amendment would apply to candidates who won the election and those who were unsuccessful.
Something tells me that this ties back to Duran’s final campaign finace statement from 2009 when the account was closed he still owed Applegate over $14,000. Duran raised around $11,000 in April after the March 2009 election to susposedly retire debt as the ordinance was written. However, in May he gave almost $3,000 away to Betsey Butler $1k, Gay Men’s Choir $1,481.84. etc. It’s also reported that a $4,301.99 credit card bill was paid off of which only $1,546.55 is accounted for. No surprise the accounting detail shows the $1.5k was all restaurant meetings. Insert your Duran loves a free… Read more »