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City Attorney David Kahn presented the staff report.
Councilmember Hamilton inquired if public financing were to be implemented would it require a Charter amendment or could it be accomplished by ordinance. City Attorney Kahn stated it could be a Charter issue but Council could also take action and make it an ordinance. If it were a Charter amendment, it would have to apply in all cases.
Councilmember Hamilton asked if there is another mechanism such as a referendum that would allow Council to obtain taxpayers decision on this issue. City Attorney Kahn stated an Advisory Measure could be placed on the ballot. This would ask for a vote of the public on whether to implement this idea. The Advisory Measure would not be binding but would provide guidance to the Council.
Councilmember Hamilton asked her colleagues to clarify what the concern is that Council is trying to address. Councilmember Moylan stated he sponsored this issue because it was brought to the Council by a citizen. He stated the concerns that he has heard from the public was a perception that large contributors have undue influence, and the belief that a candidate has to outspend his opponents in order to win the election. He stated he agrees with the idea of an Advisory Measure.
Councilmember Moylan inquired if public financing requires that small contributions such as twenty-five dollars must be disclosed. City Attorney Kahn stated public financing requires a demonstration of broad based support from a number of individuals and he would guess that the disclosure of individual names would be required. Councilmember Moylan responded that appeared to be the downside of public financing.
Councilmember Moylan inquired if staff has an estimate on the expenditure needed to provide partial matching funds for a hypothetical spending limit (such as with the City of Oakland). City Attorney Kahn stated that was beyond the scope of what staff looked at and the problem would be that the limits in Oakland are based on voluntary spending limits, which Sunnyvale currently does not have.
Public hearing opened 7:48 p.m.
Peter Cirigliano stated disclosure for campaign funding should be mandatory and published prior to the election and once the publication deadline for disclosure is met, no additional contributions can be accepted. Mr. Cirigliano stated the cost of public financing to the City would be too high. He would like the City fund pre-election newsletters with candidate disclosures included.
Craig Dunkerley, California Clean Money Campaign, stated his group’s support for public financing of campaigns.
Max Kaehn spoke in favor of public financing of campaigns.
Jeanne Lamar stated she would like Council to continue the study of full public financing of campaigns.
Brian Carr stated he would encourage Council to study public financing and the practical aspect of instituting this in the City.
Christina Lokke, representing California Common Cause, stated this is a complex issue and the organization encourages Council to take the time to study this issue and not rush into any decision. She stated the City of Portland has instituted public financing and have seen a tremendous increase in voter participation.
Tim Risch, former City of Sunnyvale Vice Mayor, stated the residents of Sunnyvale are being shut out of the election funding process. He showed a slide to Council that highlighted that the majority of the Councilmember’s campaign contributions have come from individuals outside of Sunnyvale. Mr. Risch proposed that Council adopt campaign spending limits and, maximum contributions limits. These limits should be studied by a citizen group and offer recommendations.
Mayor Lee requested that Mr. Risch leave Council a copy of his presentation.
Councilmember Moylan stated it is not legal to put a restriction on whether a contribution comes from inside or outside the City so he does not see any remedy to Mr. Risch’s problem about contributions from outside the City.
Mr. Risch stated the City could find ways to encourage residents to provide and become part of the process and he believes the way to do this is through campaign contribution and spending limits.
Councilmember Hamilton confirmed that the numbers listed on Mr. Risch’s presentation were over $100 and those under $100 were combined together and included cash and in-kind donations.
Yolanda Risch expressed concerns over the influence of large donors on elected officials and public policy. She is in favor of campaign spending limits, full public disclosure of campaign finances and full disclosure by all candidates and their large donors.
Glen Chambers stated he supports a $250 campaign contribution limit.
Werner Gans stated he is in favor of a $500 campaign contribution and expenditure limit. The study should continue in order to identify what would be the best for direction to take this City. Mr. Gans stated he would be in favor of public campaign financing if there was a way to effectively fund the program.
Arthur Schwartz offered an alternative version of public financing by appointing an election commissioner who would accept contributions (with a $250 limit) and funnel them through the City to the candidates in equal amounts without any City expenditure.
David Simons stated the City needs four or five debates on publicly debated issues which would even out the issue with under and over funded campaigns.
Fran Hirsch, Chair of Sunpac, spoke about independent expenditures and stated limits on contributions and campaigns make potential contributors feel they are overly restricted.
Councilmember Howe asked Ms. Hirsch what are the results to campaigns when there are campaign limits. Ms. Hirsch stated it is a candidate’s right to raise the money it takes to get their message out to the public and limits on contributions inhibits their ability to campaign as they see necessary to reach their objective within the community.
Councilmember Howe confirmed with Ms. Hirsch that limiting campaign contributions creates independent expenditures and when a candidate has more independent expenditures than their own, the message that gets out is not the candidates.
Arley Marley, trustee on Sunpac, expressed concern over public financing. He agrees with full disclosure for candidates.
Pat Castillo stated Council is aware of her position on campaign contributions. Ms. Castillo spoke about campaign expenditures.
Councilmember Swegles confirmed with Ms. Castillo that 20 to 30 thousand campaign mailings are approximately $1.10 to $1.40 per brochure.
Councilmember Howe confirmed with Ms. Castillo that debates are valuable if it is a true debate which could take four or five debates to complete. Ms. Castillo stated it is important to debate what is important to the City instead of what is important for personal gain.
Councilmember Howe inquired as to who should run the debates and Ms. Castillo stated it needs to be an independent group of some type to run this debate.
Vice Mayor Spitaleri stated he believes there is a correlation between the less the public is involved in campaigns creates the higher the cost of campaigns in order to reach the community. He suggested the lack of public forums contributes to the increase in the cost of campaigns.
Ms. Castillo stated she wished to clarify that when Sunpac was formed; it was formed as an independent state political action committee.
Mayor Lee confirmed with Ms. Castillo that she is totally against independent expenditures as it takes the control from the candidate since the candidate can not know what independent expenditures are being made on their behalf. She would be interested to know more about public financing but it should be studied more and she would like to see information on a City with a proven track record of public financing.
Public hearing closed 8:58 p.m.
Councilmember Moylan moved to accept the staff report, to take no limits on campaign contributions and to change the criteria for existing City subsidy for campaign statement from gathering 250 signatures to $1.00 per registered voter.
Motion failed for lack of second.
MOTION: Councilmember Howe moved and Councilmember Hamilton seconded to approve Alternative No. 1: Council accepts the Study Issue Report on City Council Campaign Contribution Limits and Expenditure Limits
with the addition of: direct the Council Ethics Committee to consider providing public debates (up to 3) organized by an independent organization.
Councilmember Chu offered a friendly amendment for the Ethics committee to provide one or more (neutral based) flyers to educate the public on campaign/election ethics with proposed expenditures to come back to Council for approval.
Friendly amendment accepted.
Councilmember Moylan stated that keeping the current campaign system because it worked for the current Council would be the wrong approach to this subject.
VOTE: 7-0
Councilmember Hamilton moved and Councilmember Moylan seconded to direct the Council Ethics Committee to explore a structure for public campaign financing and to explore a new funding source and prepare an Advisory Measure on this subject for the November 2007 ballot.
Councilmember Howe clarified with the City Clerk that placing the measures on the ballot in 2005 was approximately $95,000 per measure (which included translation into five languages).
Vice Mayor Spitaleri and Councilmember Howe expressed concern over having the Advisory Measure ready for the November 2007 election. This issue needs more time to fully be studied.
Councilmember Moylan stated he recognizes that time is short to get the Advisory Measure ready for the ballot but he feels it is very important and believes it needs to move forward. He suggested the committee meet more often and include staff assistance to meet the goal of having this measure on the ballot by November.
VOTE: 4-3 (Vice Mayor Spitaleri and Councilmembers Howe and Swegles dissented)
Vice Mayor Spitaleri moved and Councilmember Chu seconded to direct the Council Ethics Committee to explore options for voluntary campaign expenditures limits and return to Council with a work plan and proposed expenditures.
Mayor Lee confirmed with City Attorney Kahn that Council could appoint a committee to look at campaign financing reform. He stated other cities that have looked at this issue have gone through a long process (one to two years) involving Council, consultants, and members of the public before they developed a final proposal. Putting this together by June for the November ballot is a large undertaking.
Vote 6-1 (Councilmember Hamilton dissented)
Mayor Lee called for a brief recess.
Mayor Lee reconvened the meeting.
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