Election rules go before dais

June Casagrande

Should council candidates sign off on fliers and scripts produced by

their campaign managers? Should they file these materials with the

city clerk’s office? Should they be limited to collecting no more

than $25,000 per campaign? Should a committee form to audit campaign

expenses for every election?

These questions just skim the surface of the treacherous waters

the City Council will wade into Tuesday when they hold a study

session on campaign reform.

“A lot of effort has gone into this because it’s such a tricky

area. Our ultimate objective is to try to clean up campaigns,” said

City Councilman John Heffernan, who originally called for the study

session last year and who has been working with City Attorney Bob

Burnham and expert counsel Dana Reed to determine what issues and

options the council might consider. Central to the discussion is that

much political activity is protected under free speech laws.

“I support a review of our campaign policies and I’m willing to

look at campaign reform,” Mayor Steve Bromberg said. “But what I see

is that the substance of the issues we are going to look at really

involve attempting to legislate -- directly or indirectly --

political expression. You can’t do that. You can’t legislate ethics.

You can’t legislate speech.”

Simmering beneath the questions of how to rewrite the city’s

campaign ordinance ethically and effectively is an uglier battle

between two camps that have taken the issue to heart.

Led by Phil Arst, the city’s Greenlight coalition has been pushing

hard for changes in city campaigns. They have charged campaign

manager Dave Ellis and local political groups like Team Newport --

which includes three of the city’s councilmen -- of breaking rules of

campaign finance reporting, fund-raising and work on behalf of

candidates.

Ellis has returned fire, submitting a letter to the city pointing

out potential campaign violations by the Greenlight Committee,

including charges that the committee was out of line when it

collected money on its candidates’ behalf and distributed it to each

of their own campaigns.

Heffernan, a Greenlight councilman, and Bromberg, a former Ellis

client, said they intend to keep partisan infighting at bay and keep

the city’s best interests at heart.

Heffernan points out that he asked for this study session long

before it became known that Ellis had created a misleading campaign

telephone message. Heffernan’s call stemmed from concerns of conflict

of interest that, once again, involved Ellis. The political

consultant had benefited from a city grant for airport education,

which was legal under city rules. But Heffernan says the rules should

be reconsidered because of Ellis’ relationship with council members

who controlled the grant money.

Tuesday’s study session will be the first opportunity for the

council to take action on campaign finance rules.

After their discussion Tuesday, they could ask staff to look into

the matter further. Or, if council members don’t want to make any

changes, the matter could be dead and buried by Tuesday night.

“It’s up to the council now,” Heffernan said. “If a majority want

to do something, we’ll do something. Otherwise, it will be just an

interesting discussion and that will be the end of it.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].