San Bruno council eyes campaign cash limits

“I do think it’s a matter of do we, as the citizenry, believe that this amount of money should be spent on a local campaign,” Mason said. Establishing limits was an issue she had campaigned on in 2019, she said. “Especially now that we’re moving to this districting model, there’s even less of a need to really fund so much.”

The city will hold its first by-district election this year, requiring candidates to reach only voters in their districts instead of the whole city, potentially reducing campaign costs. Mason additionally said contribution limits would force candidates to “go out and get involved” in the local community.

“Your time is valuable but that’s not a cost that you put into your filings,” she said. “So it really encourages people to get out and get to know your district, get to know your city.”

Hamilton pointed to ways contribution rules can be skirted, like donating through political action committees, but offered his support nonetheless.

“While I do think a contributions limit would be largely symbolic, I think it does send a message,” Hamilton said. “I think that message is important, that we don’t want that here in San Bruno, we don’t want big money in our elections.”

It’s unclear whether the measure could be implemented to affect the coming election, with the extent of additional staff time required for enforcement yet to be determined. While the new state limits are enforced by the state, adopting local limits would transfer the task to the city, to be handled by the Clerk’s Office. City Manager Jovan Grogan said he did not yet have an estimate for what the cost to the city would be, but that information would be provided later this month.

Burlingame, last year, nearly scrapped its local contribution limits, in part to transfer enforcement to the state. But after a public outcry over the proposed move, the city not only opted to keep its lower limits, but further reduced them to $350 corresponding with its move to district elections. Assemblymember Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, the author of the state limits, said at the time he would look into modifying the rule to include state enforcement for locally-set limits as well.

Belmont, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, Redwood City and San Mateo also have their own limits, capping contributions from individuals at $500 and businesses at $1,000. All other cities in the county defer to the state rules.

Rico Medina said he would need to wait to know what the cost to the city would be before declaring his support.

“Until I get that information, I’m imposing something on staff that I don’t know really what the end result is,” he said.

For his part, Salazar said while he was not strongly opposed to the measure, it seemed to be “trying to fix something that may not be broken. He also said given the “ways to get around this,” the move would limit only those playing by the rules.

“I don’t know that there’s been a problem with elections being bought in San Bruno,” he said. “And even looking at the most recent elections it’s interesting to see that probably the person that reported the most donations and expenditures didn’t win, so to me it seems there is evidence that money doesn’t equate to winning.”

As evidence campaigns did not require large sums, Hamilton pointed out that his budget was $5,200, half of which he funded himself, when he ran.

The council will deliberate on the measure at a later date before making a final decision.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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