Austin campaign rules overturned in part
Zimmerman gets split court decision on suit; blackout period voided.
Candidates for Austin City Council can start raising campaign cash anytime they want, a federal judge ruled this week in Council Member Don Zimmerman’s unprecedented lawsuit against the city, making campaign season year-round.
The ruling Wednesday by Judge Lee Yeakel, coming seven months after the case went to trial, upheld limits on how much a donor can give. His ruling amounted to a split decision on the campaign finance rules that Austin voters first approved nearly two decades ago:
■ The judge overturned the blackout period that prohibited candidates from fundraising until six months before election day (this year, for instance, that period ended May 12 for
the Nov. 8 election). Yeakel found the restriction violated Zimmerman’s freedom of association and the city
did not demonstrate why it was necessary.
Yeakel also struck down a “dissolution requirement” that said elected officials could keep only $20,000 of their leftover campaign money for officeholder expenditures, requiring anything beyond that to be given to contributors or charities. That rule also said leftover money could not be saved for future campaigns. Yeakel found that violated Zimmerman’s freedom of speech.
The judge upheld a contribution limit of $350 per donor in an election cycle. Zimmerman argued that
amount was so low that it would hurt communication with voters. But the court concluded that “interest in preventing quid pro quo cor-
ruption” justified the limit. Yeakel also kept the rule saying a candidate cannot receive more than $36,000 from donors who are not eligible Austin voters. Because Zimmerman received only $8,000 from non-Austin voters in 2014, the court ruled he was not able to demonstrate the $36,000 cap hurt him, and therefore he was ineligible to challenge the limit. Zimmerman said he was
pleased, but added he would likely appeal the judge’s decision on the contribution lim- its.
“It’s two down and two to go,” he said.
Appeals to come?
Austin’s campaign finance rules were first approved in a 1997 election by 72 percent of voters. In 2006, voters approved adjusting the campaign limits for inflation and shifting the requirements for the use of campaign dollars after the election.
The city defended those rules in the two-day trial over Zimmerman’s lawsuit in December. Now officials will have to decide whether to appeal the judge’s ruling. Mayor Steve Adler’s spokesman, Jason Stanford, had no immediate comment on the case Thursday.
Jimmy Flannigan, who is running against Zimmer- man for the District 6 seat
and has frequently criticized him as too litigious, said he would continue to make a campaign issue of the suit and ruling.
Overturning the blackout period will allow council members to be “on the take year-round,” Flannigan said.
“The city has a duty to appeal these rulings,” he said. “Voters approved these restrictions that, in my opin- ion, are good for democ- racy.”
A mixed victory
During the December trial, Zimmerman’s lawsuit drew testimony from consultants for city campaigns who said before the restrictions were adopted, large donations from developers corrupted the system and led citizens to view the City Council as a “pay-for-play” body.
David Butts, one of the consultants who testified, said he saw Wednesday’s rul- ing as more of a victory than a loss on the more import
ant points of the challenge. “The major thing was to protect the $350” limit per donor, he said. “I do not interpret (the decision) as a very severe blow, and far short of what Mr. Zimmerman wanted to accomplish.”
Zimmerman’s attorney, Jerad Najvar, called the $350 limit arbitrary and, because it was restricted to campaign
contributions and not officeholder money, discriminating in favor of incumbents. He said he was optimistic
about an appeal. Local political consultant Mark Littlefield noted that the decision won’t impact this year’s election — unless candidates decide to raise a lot more money in anticipation of keeping it — but it will substantially change things from here onward.
“If I’m Steve Adler or (Council Members) Ellen Troxclair or Ann Kitchen, I start raising money today for my (2018) race,” Littlefield
said. “That’s something we haven’t had in 20 years. If someone takes a contribution
and the next week there’s a council vote, everyone is going to question everyone’s motives.”