Candidate for Supervisor Calls for $500 Cap on Each Contribution

Steve Bennett, a candidate in the 1st District supervisorial race, announced Thursday that he will push for a law that limits campaign contributions in county elections if he wins the Ventura-area seat in March.

Bennett is already limiting his individual campaign contributions to $500, but said an ordinance is needed to force candidates in all county elections to do the same. Capping the amount of money that flows from any one individual or group is the ethical thing to do, said Bennett, a former Ventura councilman who wrote that city’s campaign finance law.

“One of my overall goals is to decrease the emphasis of money in politics,” he said. “Regardless of the impact of large donations on politicians, they create an inappropriate impression that the politician can’t be objective.”

Bennett’s move has put pressure on the two other District 1 candidates, Rosa Lee Measures and James Monahan, to cap their own contributions. But both said they have no plans to do so.

Measures and Monahan have each received donations exceeding $500, but still remain far behind Bennett in fund-raising. Bennett, an economics teacher at an Ojai high school, has raised $62,000 so far, while Monahan and Measures have raised $24,000 and $23,000, respectively.

In her latest financial statement, Measures, a Ventura businesswoman and former city councilwoman, listed $1,000 contributions each from Ojai ranchers Esther Wachtell and Carl Huntsinger and Ventura property manager John Hammer.

“Their contributions have absolutely no bearing on my future decisions,” Measures said. “My level of integrity and commitment to the job is not driven by how much an individual contributes or doesn’t contribute.”

Her contributors come from diverse backgrounds, not special interest groups, Measures said.

“My intention is to serve all people and to represent all constituents,” she said.

Monahan, a business owner and longtime Ventura councilman, reported a $10,000 loan from Ventura resident Robert Starr and $1,000 donations from Walter E. Hartman of Taft Electric and Wittenberg-Livingston Inc. of Newport Beach.

Monahan called Bennett’s limit a “gimmick” and said he doesn’t see the point in limiting contributions.

“It takes money to run a campaign,” he said. “If people think that money is going to influence my voting, they’re wrong.”

Contributors give what feels comfortable to them, Monahan said.

“If somebody can afford to donate more than $500, then God bless them.”

The three candidates are vying for the seat of retiring Supervisor Susan Lacey, who is stepping down after two decades.

With Bennett’s $65,000 fund-raising goal nearly complete, the candidate said he will concentrate on talking to voters and sending out information on his campaign during the next seven weeks.

But Measures and Monahan, who announced their candidacies months after Bennett, said they will continue to vigorously raise money in the coming weeks.

The primary will be held March 7. The District 1 seat includes Ventura, Montalvo, Saticoy and portions of Ojai.

Contributions in countywide races have not been capped since 1997, when a county ordinance was repealed. The county chose to rescind the law, county lawyers said, after a federal judge blocked Proposition 208, a statewide campaign finance reform initiative.

Proposition 208 is a 1996 initiative that set a $500 limit on individual contributions to candidates. Those who limited total spending could accept as much as $1,000 from each supporter. The California initiative is still in legal limbo. And until the courts decide on its constitutionality, contributors can give as much as they want to candidates, county officials said.

Supervisor John K. Flynn, a six-term incumbent in Oxnard’s 5th District, said he has always limited his donations. But he declined to specify whether he would support a reform ordinance for future elections.

For this election, he capped contributions at $500, Flynn said. He has raised about $27,000 so far. In a few situations, Flynn said, he returned checks that exceeded his limit.

“You’ve got to raise some money, but you’ve got to have a limit,” Flynn said. “Otherwise it looks like you are beholden to the people who make contributions.”

Francisco Dominguez, who is challenging Flynn for the 5th District seat, said he has not received any contributions greater than $500, but has not officially set a limit. The Oxnard Elementary School District trustee and Latino activist has raised about $1,800.

However, Dominguez said he would support Bennett’s call for a county ordinance that sets campaign-contribution limits, if he were elected.

“That would be a step in a good direction in terms of campaign finance reform for the county,” Dominguez said.

Supervisor Kathy Long, who is seeking reelection in District 3, received a contribution of $2,650 from a group representing county firefighters, and $1,950 from the Service Employees International Union. She also received several $1,000 contributions. She raised nearly $70,000 in 1999.

But Long said she has decided to set a $750 limit on contributions as of Jan 1.

And if she is reelected, Long plans to bring the county’s old ordinance back to the board for review, the Camarillo supervisor said.

“The public would like to see some campaign reform,” she said. “I would like to see some campaign reform. And it starts at home.”

In Bennett’s 1993 campaign for Ventura City Council, he limited his contributions to $100. And as a councilman, he wrote a campaign finance reform law that limits donations to $100 unless a candidate limits total spending to $20,000.

If the candidate caps total spending, the limit on contributions rises to $200. The lower contribution limits, in the end, result in a more democratic process, Bennett said.

“It forces you to network and to demonstrate a broader base in the community,” Bennett said.