Maria Elena Ramirez, sister of the late Ventura County Supervisor Chair Carmen Ramirez, urging the Board of Supervisors not to gut county campaign contribution limits.
Maria Elena Ramirez, sister of the late Ventura County Supervisor Chair Carmen Ramirez, urging the Board of Supervisors not to gut county campaign contribution limits.
Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on March 14 to repeal its rules on campaign contribution limits and expenditures, raising campaign contributions from $750 per contributor to $5,500.
The second hearing on the ordinance will be March 28 at 10:30 a.m. at the Ventura County Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura. If the repeal is adopted at that meeting, it will go into effect 30 days later.
About 30 people spoke on the issue, the majority opposing the change. In addition, a total of 286 written comments were submitted for the hearing, with an overwhelming number opposing the repeal.
Ventura County’s campaign contribution and expenditure rules were adopted 20 years ago and have been updated every two years since then through 2016.
The proposal to increase the allowable amount of campaign donations was made by newly elected county Supervisors Jeff Gorell of Camarillo and Janice Parvin of Moorpark. They voted for the repeal, along with Supervisor Kelly Long.
Opposing the repeal were Supervisors Matt LaVere, who represents the Ojai Valley, and Supervisor Vianey Lopez.
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors’ meeting on this issue can be viewed at https://bit.ly/3YT1my3 at the 3-hour-and-5-minute time stamp. To view Gorell and Parvin’s letter and the 286 responses, visit https://bit.ly/3Lu7xpl.
Gorell said the current system is “duplicative” and “inefficient.” In his letter to the board, he wrote: “Candidates for county elected office will simply be subject to all campaign finance reporting requirements of state law — again, the same campaign finance report requirements for elections for state candidates. … Elimination of redundant, bureaucratic red tape in the interest of consistency with the state’s established law is in the best interest of the voters and transparency of all political campaigns.”
He said $750 campaign limit per contributor is “unconstitutional” and no longer makes sense since it does not take inflation into account. “We have been lazy as a county,” he said.
Former Supervisor Steve Bennett, of Ventura, now assemblyman of the 38th Assembly District, proposed the county campaign limits in 2002 and wrote an Opinion commentary opposing the change, with former Supervisor Linda Parks. Former Supervisor Kathy Long also wrote a letter to the supervisors opposing the change.
LaVere, of Ventura, said he would support a discussion about minor modifications to the ordinance, “but I don’t think blowing up the whole ordinance is the path to get there.”
Long, of Camarillo, said the change enhances transparency so people don’t have to go to more than one website to check on campaign contributions.
“I really value that democracy. ...,” she said of the state campaign rules. “This is really for all of our residents. None of us got voted in by the amount of money that was provided to us. … People voted for the people they wanted to have. … Your community is who elects all of our elected … So, to tell me that you only got voted because of the amount of money you spent really disheartens me. … I’m really disheartened by having people say, well it was the amount of dollars they were given — no.”
Lopez, of Oxnard, said she questions “why we are doing this.” Repealing county campaign limits is “disregarding the power of the people to have a voice in our community, making elections attainable and accessible.” She said there is no better way to engage with the people than to be there in person. “You don’t need money for that, you need the time.” She said that if Parvin and Gorell think the limits should be changed in Ventura County, the issue should be decided by the voters.
Campaign financing limits that apply to state races cannot be compared to county races, she said, since there is no comparison in size.
Parvin said it is hard to raise money for elections with $750 maximum per contributor and that raising campaign contribution limits “is about increasing transparency.”
Maria Elena Ramirez, sister of the late Ventura County Supervisor Carmen Ramirez, said: “Do not take money from people who will own your vote. .... We all know that is what this is about.”
Bert Perello, an Oxnard City councilman, who said he was speaking on his own behalf, spoke of the negative impact of big-money campaign spending on Oxnard city governance in the past.
Claudia Bill-de la Peña, who served five terms on the Thousand Oaks City Council and ran against Gorell for supervisor in November, said, “We do not want to change to a grotesque $5,500 per person. The power of special-interest pocketbooks will squash those” of ordinary people. She said more than $1 million was spent on Gorell’s supervisor campaign. “It is a frightening thought what will happen once these floodgates are open.”
Bernardo Perez of Moorpark, who ran against Parvin in November, said via Zoom, that the purpose of the county campaign spending limits is to promote public trust in the electoral process. He asked the board to reject the proposal.
Steven Nash, of Oxnard, said, “Shame” is the word to describe “such a transparent attempt to circumvent public will.”
David Grau of Ventura, speaking on behalf of the Ventura County Taxpayers Association, said the proposal to increase the amount of campaign donations is a “step in the right direction,” calling the county ordinance “antiquated” and an “outlier.”
Nancy Lindholm, of Camarillo, president and CEO of the West Ventura County Business Alliance, said the current rules should be repealed because “current campaign limits .... promote the use of independent expenditure campaigns.”
Former Ventura Councilmember Christy Weir said big donors benefit big special interests. She said repealing the county ordinance will not limit the power of Political Action Committees (PACS). “It would double it.”
