After a resident slammed county supervisors for a proposed
ordinance to limit campaign contributions at Tuesday’s meeting, the
Board postponed the action until completion of the March primary
election and expressed willingness to consider all elected
officials under the measure.
After a resident slammed county supervisors for a proposed ordinance to limit campaign contributions at Tuesday’s meeting, the Board postponed the action until completion of the March primary election and expressed willingness to consider all elected officials under the measure.
The ordinance to limit campaign contributions for Board races was proposed at the Nov. 12 meeting by Supervisor Ruth Kesler, who is running for re-election in District 2. Under the plan, it would include a limit of $250 per individual donor or business.
Clifford Cardoza, a Hollister resident and a District 2 constituent, questioned the timing of Kesler’s proposal and called it “self serving.” He said there had been no evidence of campaign corruption to warrant the ordinance.
“The proposed County of San Benito campaign contributions limitations is biased, flawed and politically motivated,” Cardoza said during a public hearing on the matter.
Afterward, Kesler acknowledged the timing could affect campaigns that are under way. She also pointed out the first draft of the ordinance – an adaptation of one from Orange County – contains several flaws that need to be changed before an approval. For one, she said, the current draft requires reporting of all donations, even the $5 and $25 gifts.
“Do you know how long that would take our elections department to go through?” she said.
After a motion from Supervisor Reb Monaco to put off the issue until at least March, which Kesler seconded, the Board voted 3-2 in favor of that move. Supervisors Pat Loe and Richard Scagliotti voted no.
District Attorney John Sarsfield and Sheriff Curtis Hill also attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak during the public hearing. Both said they support campaign contribution limitations – but that such an ordinance should restrict all elected officials, including their positions. Kesler had originally asked to include only supervisors.
On Tuesday, however, she changed her mind and advocated inclusion of all county races. Monaco agreed that all elected officials should be involved.
Other elected positions in the county include the marshal, assessor, treasurer, superintendent of schools and the clerk, according to the Elections Office.
Sarsfield made several other points, too. He said donations from “political action committees,” corporations and labor unions should be allowed to exceed $250 – he suggested $500. A PAC is a board formed by a special interest group to raise money for a favored candidate.
And he asked the Board to consider creating an enforcement commission for the issue – because the courts and state regulatory agencies cannot handle such matters in a timely fashion, he said.
“In law enforcement, in particular, I think it’s an issue,” said Sarsfield, who was elected to his first term in November 2002. “Because there would be nothing stopping a drug dealer or organized crime walking into my race or the sheriff’s race or the county marshal’s race and dropping thirty thousand dollars on that race.”
Kesler defended her motivation after the public hearing – citing concerns with the county’s expected growth for her effort to spearhead the ordinance.
“Before this county gets so large that we can’t do a lot about changes, that was my thinking when this all came up,” she said.
Supervisor Bob Cruz, who was also singled out by Cardoza because he is running for re-election in District 5, also defended himself. Cruz has said he does not accept donations and he also voted to postpone taking action on the ordinance until at least March.
“I do my campaign the old-fashioned way,” Cruz said. “I take in no money.”
In other business, the Board:
– Approved the county’s application for a grant to pay for rehabilitation of the New Idria mines in the southern region of San Benito County. The grant is through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – it is called the Brownfields Assessment Funds Grant program.
New Idria is a town southeast of the Panoche Valley with a barren landscape and a population said to be fewer than 10. The town’s mines, once the nation’s leading producer of mercury, now spew acidic water into the San Carlos Creek, causing it to turn orange.
The proposal to the federal government seeks $200,000. If it is awarded, remediation work should start by October 2004, when the funding is scheduled to be allocated.
“I believe it is for the benefit of the entire community,” said Dr. Kahlil Abu-Saba, a hired chemist who has spearheaded the county’s analysis of the site.
– Approved sending a letter to Sacramento denouncing the new governor’s repeal of the vehicle license fee tax. If the state follows through and takes back the dollars previously allocated to counties and cities throughout the state, the county could lose about $2.4 million, according to County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio. He said the losses could lead to employee layoffs, and the Sheriff’s Department in particular would lose about $500,000.
Scagliotti, however, pointed out the county maintains General Fund reserves. He was the lone supervisor to vote against sending the letter.
“That money isn’t for the Board of Supervisors or the administration’s money,” he said. “This is about the truth. The truth is – there are adequate reserves.”
– Approved Monaco’s request to send a letter of recommendation to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to consider county resident and former Supervisor Ron Rodrigues for an opening on the State of California Fish and Game Commission.
Rodrigues is the vice chair of the county Fish and Game Advisory Commission. He was defeated by Monaco in the November 2002 election.
