Campaign contributions limited to $25K per person

The Dixon City Council voted to set local campaign contribution limits at $25,000 per individual donor at Tuesday’s meeting.

The item was a followup on an item that was presented at the Nov. 17 meeting, which asked if the council wanted to set its own campaign contribution limits or default to the state’s limit of $4,700 per donor.

In 2019, both houses of the California Legislature approved Assembly Bill 571 — sponsored by Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco — which establishes default contribution limits of $4,700 for jurisdictions that have not passed their own limits. These default limits are intended to curb the amount of contributions from a single donor and may be period

ically adjusted by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to adjust for inflation.

The law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year and will go into effect Jan. 1. Cities that take no action will be subject to the default limits. However, cities may choose to establish their own limits through an ordinance with a contribution cap that may be higher or lower than the state amount.

At the Nov. 17 meeting, the council made clear they wanted to set their own limits, even going as far as to suggest astronomically high limits such as $50,000 so as to not restrain donors.

City At tor ney Doug White returned at Tuesday’s meeting with a variety of limits for the council’s consideration: $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000 and $50,000. He said that enforcement would lie with the elections official and city attorney’s office and that it would not limit contributions by a candidate to their own campaign. He also said the cap applied to individual donors, so a married couple would be able to donate $25,000 each if they were able to.

Vice Mayor Steve Bird reaffirmed his support of the council establishing its own limits from the previous meeting.

“I want it to be controlled locally and not by the state,” he said.

Council man Devon Minnema echoed his statements from the previous meeting that regulating donations was a form of regulating speech and that the contribution ceiling should be set at a large amount.

“I think that the wise way to approa ch this would be to make the limit as high as possible so that it becomes a practicaility effect versus a legal limit,” he said.

White said the highest limit staff found was $25,000 and that anything above would be the highest in the state. Councilman Scott Pederson suggested the city adhere to that amount.

In a public comment, Ian Arnold disagreed. He had run for council in 2012, and he said he managed to raise $800, refusing to take big donations. He felt smaller limits were better.

“It would scare me to see a candidate in Dixon get $25,000 from an out- ofstate or out- of-town contractor or business,” he said. “In a town this size, we shouldn’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on running for office. It really makes one question why the person’s running for office, and it really makes one question what the promises are made in order to get such large donations from individuals, particularly individuals or companies that are not based in town.”

Bird argued that money is key to running a campaign. He said when he first ran in 2012, he was told by others who had run that he would need to raise between $10,000 and $12,000 to be successful.

“I was flabergasted,” he said. “But I was told that time and time again, and that campaign ended up costing about that much. I was really surprised.”

Bird also said campaign funds for mailers and social media ads helped promote his recent mayoral campaign, especially given the restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic.

“By limiting that, you limit the exposure and the ability for the candidate to reach out to people in various means,” he said.

The council voted 4- 0 to set individual contribution limits at $25,000. Mayor Thom Bogue was absent due to illness.

In other business, the council approved a process to began soliciting applications for an interim city clerk to serve until the special election Nov. 2. An ordinance declaring portable basketball hoops to be a public nuisance when on sidewalks, curbs or other right of way areas was tabled indefinitely as the council did not want to place further restrictions on youth recreational activities during COVID-19.

The meeting was adjourned in memory of former Mayor Don Erickson, who died recently.