ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Reform Factor: Triumph of the Voters

Orange County has come a long way toward having an enlightened system of regulating contributions in county political campaigns.

This was especially evident in the overwhelming approval given Measure T on Tuesday. The ballot measure was a much-needed campaign reform update that closed a loophole in existing legislation on contributions of political action committees, among its other reforms.

Money has had a habit of flooding the political system in Orange County. As recently as the 1970s, scandals involving political contributions rocked the county. The Board of Supervisors was embarrassed into passing a campaign financing law, albeit one that contained loopholes.

But even with that 1978 TINCUP ordinance, the process of county government remained beholden to special interests. The old ordinance successfully reduced the amount of money flowing to supervisors’ campaign coffers. But although it restored public confidence, it failed to place limits on PACs, which proliferated in the last decade.

Last year, a computer-assisted Times investigation of contributions to candidates for the Board of Supervisors demonstrated what had happened. Some experts said that the percentages of political giving was tilted in Orange County toward contributions from developers in a manner unlike what they had seen elsewhere.

And the old ordinance was difficult to enforce because it was not tied to specific election cycles; rather its reporting requirements were geared to four-year periods. And, finally, a refresher ordinance was needed to extend campaign finance restrictions to other top county offices such as sheriff and district attorney.

Measure T closed these loopholes. It capped all contributions and loans to candidates at $1,000 per contributor per election, while allowing candidates in a runoff to raise an additional $1,000 per contributor. It was drafted by Robert M. Stern, co-director of the nonprofit California Commission on Campaign Financing, at the urging of Shirley Grindle, the political watchdog who put together TINCUP. The Board of Supervisors recognized the need for this subsequent reform and unanimously voted to put it on the ballot.

The huge victory for Measure T--about 85%--demonstrates the urgency of reform and the constituency that existed for it. Indeed, even before the vote, William R. Mitchell, president of the Orange County chapter of Common Cause, noted the broad appeal of campaign financing reform in 1992: “Campaign finance reform is now becoming as American as apple pie.”

This all-American issue cuts across political lines. It’s one whose time clearly has come in Orange County.