Donation limits would create `clean campaigning' ideal

There's scant evidence that increasing the money in politics improves the quality of the outcome.

The current Supreme Court majority contends that unlimited campaign donations are a form of free speech. Others with a more realistic bent understand that big money distorts the system where the largest contributors have the loudest voice. That's especially true when contributions emanate from those with a direct financial stake in the outcome and have deep pocketbooks.

That unlimited campaign money corrupts is a truism at the federal, state and local level.

Kudos to Corte Madera's

Town Council for passing limits on campaign donations for council elections. Now, no one donor may give more than $500 to any one candidate during an election cycle.

The same compliment goes to the city of Sausalito.

Phyllis Metcalfe, the Corte Madera planning commissioner who was a major advocate for the limit, said, “We didn't spend a lot of time and money crafting the ordinance. We copied Sausalito's law.”

Campaign money is certainly needed for candidates to communicate their message. It's unfair to expect individual candidates to fund their entire effort. It`s difficult enough to recruit a person with a full-time job and raising a family to serve without a financial test. Local officials aren't getting rich.

In Corte Madera, council members earn $300 a month, plus an extra $50 to the mayor. Ditto for Sausalito.

In Corte Madera, with about 7,088 registered voters, spending a $1 per registered voter per candidate is sufficient for an active campaign with volunteers spreading the message. That'll fund a website, mail one ad and print brochures for a candidate to carry when campaigning door-to-door and at meet-andgreet events.

The only other Marin municipality with a prior donation limit is Novato. For the past 15 years, due to past Mayor Bernie Meyers' Novato Political Fairness Act, donations were limited to $400 per person, per year. Last year, its council unanimously voted to raise that cap to $1,000 plus an annual cost of living adjustment.

That 250% raise was despite Novato moving from at-large citywide council elections to the district model. Each council district has only slightly more registered voters than Corte Madera. Reformers contend that districts are a means to lower the cost of campaigning due to far fewer constituents.

That was proven false by Novato's action.

State legislation spurred many California communities to limit contributions. Assembly Bill 571 enacted a single-donor default limit of $4,900 in every city, town and county without their own cap. California's Fair Political Practices Commission explains that “contribution limits will, by default, apply to city and county candidates when the city or county has not already enacted a contribution limit on such candidates. The AB 571 contribution limit … is updated biennially for inflation.”

Sausalito, Corte Madera and Novato are the only Marin governments with limits less than AB 571's $4,900 maximum. It's time for Marin's eight other municipalities and county government to get on the clean campaigning bandwagon.

AB 571 applies to counties as well as cities and towns. The best way to keep those donors who are the most generous with county supervisorial campaigns under control is for the Board of Supervisors to enact a limit of $1,000 per donor, per candidate, per election cycle.

That won't prohibit public employee unions, developers and wealthy individuals pursuing a single issue from exercising their free speech by making political donations. It will limit how much they can give, greatly diminishing their power to dominate local campaigns.

It's too late for any limit to apply this year. It's not too early for supervisors to pass a donation maximum so it applies in 2024's local election. Otherwise, the state's $4,900 default limit will govern.

Sausalito, Corte Madera and Novato are the only Marin governments with limits less than AB 571's $4,900 maximum.