Huntington Beach to Vote on Allowing Unlimited Donations to City Races

From the OC Register:

HUNTINGTON BEACH Council members were at odds at a study session on how to best reform the city's campaign finance rules.

At the end of the meeting Monday, council asked staff to bring back to a future meeting several options for consideration, including no limits to individual campaign contributions.

Some on the council wanted no cap on how much an individual can give to a city candidate, while others wanted to keep the current $300 limit.

Council members Don Hansen, Cathy Green and Joe Carchio said there should be no limits on contributions

Hansen argued that candidates who have limits on individual contributions can't compete against well-funded Political Action Committees that have no limits.

Councilman Keith Bohr, who sided with Councilwoman Jill Hardy and Mayor Debbie Cook on keeping current campaign limits, said local politics need less money, not more.

"I don't think more money makes… better candidates," Bohr said.

About the only thing council members agreed on was to give candidates the option to file campaign reports electronically for the upcoming November election. The reports would be posted to the city's Web site for the public to review.

Read the rest here.

             

Comments

[Connie]

No limit on contributions is a bad idea that will only help candidates with ties to powerful outside special interest groups. Perhaps the $300.00 limit should be raised some, but a reasonable cap should stay in place, and $3,000 is not a reasonable cap.