Huntington Beach City Council votes to substantially raise campaign contribution limits

One of the first 4-3 votes of Tuesday night’s Huntington Beach City Council meeting was to increase the salary of City Atty. Michael Gates.

But it was not the only 4-3 vote that the newly divided council made. Not by a long shot.

The panel also voted to increase the campaign contribution limits, amend the city’s code enforcement process to bar anonymous complaints and authorize Gates to challenge the city’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment numbers.

They also approved Mayor Tony Strickland’s Council Liaison list, requested a CEQA review for the Great Pacific Air Show and voted to waive the attorney-client and closed session confidentiality privileges for meetings on an age-discrimination lawsuit that was against the city and Gates.

All came by the same 4-3 vote, with the newly elected conservative majority pushing the items through.

The increase in the campaign contributions limit would be from $620 to $4,900 per person or business, which matches the state limits of the state Legislature for Senate and Assembly candidates.

Strickland, who served in both of those state bodies, introduced the item. He said when he considered running for City Council, people told him no one typically won the first time because of small donor limits.

“You’re not going to get rid of money out of politics, but what you are going to do is empower candidates, where the money goes directly to them,� he said. “The citizens know who that money goes to, then they can make their educated choice ... This brings about more accountability in our candidates and campaigns. Most cities do go along with the limits of the state of California, and that will allow us to have a more informed citizenry when it comes to elections here in Huntington Beach.�

“The strongest hit pieces are the ones done by outside groups, not by the candidates, because the candidates have to put their name behind that. If you want to see less negative campaigning, you pass this measure.�

Strickland noted that Westminster, the city immediately to Huntington Beach’s north, has no campaign contributions limits. Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark, who unsuccessfully ran for the Ocean View School District Board of Trustees in 2018, added that OVSD also does not have contributions limits.

“This is not wildly outrageous,� she said. “We’re trying to just give the control back to the candidate, instead of having to rely on independent expenditures to be in a successful race.�

Councilman Dan Kalmick said he was not against raising the limits but still voted against the item.

“I’d like to get some context on a per capita basis,� he said. “A state Senate race is a million people. We’re one-fifth the size of a Senate district, so $1,100 or $1,200 seems like a good trial to go. I just question why we need to do this today. No one’s going to start raising money for a year and a half, usually, before we start running for elections [in 2024].�

Councilwoman Natalie Moser also voted against the item. She said that when she ran for council in 2020, she had 244 itemized contributions averaging just $161 each.

“Personally, I want people who are your regular residents to feel like they have power and can make a difference,� she said. “I believe that we should not be adding and increasing our campaign finance contributions at this time because I think it does the opposite of that.�

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