L.A. Limit on Political Donations Held Invalid

Attorneys for the Fair Political Practices Commission have concluded that a Los Angeles-imposed limit on campaign contributions to candidates for citywide offices is invalid. But state and local officials agreed Monday that if the commission adopts the staff lawyers’ recommendations, the ruling could backfire and allow more, not less, money into campaign treasuries.

FPPC staff attorneys have said that the City Charter section limiting to $1,000 per election the contributions to mayoral, city attorney and city controller candidates should be voided because it is weaker than the limitations imposed by Proposition 73. The statewide campaign contribution measure was approved by an overwhelming margin in the June primary.

FPPC attorney Lilly Spitz concluded, however, that the FPPC cannnot void the $1,000 limit on individual contributions without also voiding an even stricter charter limitation of $1,000 on gifts from political action committees and political parties. Proposition 73 allows up to $5,000 a year from such sources.

An FPPC spokeswoman said that if the commission agrees to strike down the city limit on PAC contributions, then the higher amounts allowed by Proposition 73 will apply.

After reading the FPPC staff opinion, Deputy Mayor Mike Gage said: “It sounds like rather than determining that (the City Charter section) is stronger . . . (the FPPC staff attorneys) have discarded the local provision relating to a citywide race, which makes it easier to raise money.”

Meeting Today

Gage said that Mayor Tom Bradley’s campaign would need to study the opinion before deciding whether to oppose it when the FPPC considers the recommendation. The commission will be meeting today to discuss other provisions of the controversial new law.

Ann Hollister, a campaign adviser to Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, said that the councilman has already moved to fight the FPPC lawyers’ recommendation on grounds that the charter section is stronger than Proposition 73.

Proposition 73 prohibits any candidate for citywide office from receiving more than $1,000 in a fiscal year from any single entity. Spitz concluded that the local charter section invalidly conflicts with Proposition 73 because it permits a citywide candidate to receive $1,000 from a contributor both in a primary and general election, both of which are in the same fiscal year.

Until now, aides to the two likely mayoral candidates, Bradley and Yaroslavsky, have expressed the belief that in general the city’s limits on campaign contributions would supersede Proposition 73 because they were generally stronger. The campaign aides had believed that only those provisions weaker than Proposition 73 would be invalidated.

In the same memorandum to the FPPC, Spitz said that all other portions of the City Charter’s campaign contribution rules, including a limit of $500 per election for City Council races, do not conflict with Proposition 73.