01.3 - Laserfiche WebLink

Councilmember McGovern felt that if it is within the last 7 days, this is where a PAC and independent groups could do that to a candidate. She felt there should be some sort of safety valve to allow a candidate to publish a rebuttal. Councilmember Sullivan thought information should be available to the public quicker, better and easier than it is now and was supportive of keeping the $25 limit. Regarding the State Assembly limits, he asked that staff look into it and return with more information. Regarding public funding for local elections, Councilmember Sullivan questioned if anyone was doing public funding for local elections in California. Ms. Seto said this was correct; no cities or counties were doing it and there are actually specific statutes that provide that public funds cannot be used. Only charter cities have been considering it, and a bill has been provided in the Assembly to modify that which currently prohibits it. So, depending upon what happens with that legislation, the Council could discuss this in the future. Mayor Hosterman recapped that there is a common theme of increasing transparency such as placing Form 460's on a website or something else, which she felt would be beneficial especially for those in the community who have an interest in watching and following individual campaigns and candidates but do not have time to devote looking into it. Regarding limiting contributions, the Council has heard from several people that the council may well be pushing this off in another direction and she thinks it is a good idea to limit contributions at some point, but was not sure at what point that would be. She asked staff to look at State Assembly guidelines to understand what those look like regarding campaign expenditures and contributions. Regarding the idea of limiting and trying to provide this framework for campaign contributions to safeguard transparency with the public and giving candidates tools to get their name out, she feels we are moving toward providing more opportunities for the wealthy and shutting out opportunities for those with less means. Councilmember Sullivan asked about voluntary limits. Mayor Hosterman said she liked the $25 limit, which means anyone who makes a contribution of $25 or more must be disclosed on the Form 460. Councilmember McGovern noted that staff is working on a Code of Ethics and felt it went hand in hand with campaign reform as far as how the Council conducts itself. She asked if this would be coming forward, and City Manager Fialho said this could come forward in the next 60 days. Councilmember Sullivan said with the pledge idea, perhaps one of the statements in the pledge is that it discourages independent expenditures made on a councilmember's behalf. He felt this was not binding, but a description of discouragement. City Manager Fialho said five ideas or concepts presented included; 1) limits on contributions; 2) modifying the filing periods for disclosure; 3) the idea of a voluntary expenditure limit; 4) whether or not the City should modify the reporting threshold from $25 to another number; and 5) the idea of better disclosure and transparency. Councilmember McGovern asked staff to bring back information from other cities on what their campaign contribution limits were, liked the idea of returning with Option One. Councilmember Cook-Kallio said she had a copy of the Alameda County contribution limit by city and this could be copied for the Council. City Council Minutes 11 October 16, 2007