City Grapples With Campaign Reform
Some say ethics commission is needed to handle elections.
Violate a campaign law in Sacramento and chances are good that nothing will happen to you.
Complaints go unanswered, city election officials admit some campaign ordinances have no teeth, and the City Attorney's Office has stated it's politically unrealistic for it to investigate or enforce violations, particularly when it involves the mayor or a City Council member.
City Councilman Ray Tretheway called the city's enforcement system "a black hole."
Tretheway has joined a growing number of consumer advocates, civic activists and political observers calling for an independent ethics commission to oversee election complaints in the city. The topic is expected to come up before the council today.
"People lose trust in a system when there is no oversight," said Kris Greenlee, vice chairman of California Common Cause, who has worked with Sacramento for years on campaign reform.
"We strongly support the idea of an ethics commission for this city - the buck has to stop somewhere."
The discussion comes on the heels of an audit that uncovered problems with the city's campaign laws and drew the concern last week of advocates of those laws like Donna Chipps, past president of the Sacramento League of Women Voters.
"It's the logical next step," said Robert Waste, a public policy professor at California State University, Sacramento, who has advised the city on campaign finance reform.
The City Council over the past several years has made some strides in election reform. It passed a campaign finance ordinance in November 2000 that included contribution limits.
In September 2003 it approved a matching-fund program to aid non-incumbents in the battle for contributions.
The recent audit uncovered problems with the matching funds program, including a broadly written ordinance that allowed candidates to use taxpayer dollars on a host of questionable expenses, including out-of-town travel.
The council agreed to send the ordinance back to a subcommittee for review.
Councilwoman Lauren Hammond, who chairs the council's Law and Legislation Committee, said in an interview she will ask her colleagues if they are interested in the possibility of an ethics commission.
City Councilman Steve Cohn said he's willing to discuss the idea.
Mayor Heather Fargo was noncommittal about a city ethics commission in a voice mail message and said if a commission were subject to open meeting laws, it "would not be as effective" for last-minute campaign issues.
She could not be reached for further comment.
Last year's mayoral campaign was rife with allegations of electoral wrongdoing.
After Fargo handily won re-election, challenger Mark Soble, a former attorney for the Fair Political Practices Commission, offered to help the city form an ethics commission.
Fargo ignored the offer, Soble said.
He still contends an ethics commission is essential in Sacramento because it does not appear that the City Attorney's Office is doing its job.
He has filed two complaints with the city attorney and has never been contacted by that office, Soble said.
"I can only assume that the city has not taken any action," Soble said.
"I'd be very interested in their process of investigating complaints."
Deputy City Attorney Rich Archibald said his office has determined they could not act on the complaints and intended to send a letter to Soble.
"Given our status, that our clients are the council and the mayor, it would be a conflict of interest to investigate and prosecute these matters," Archibald said.
"That would include other candidates as well, who would be opponents to our clients."
Archibald said any complaints should be sent to the FPPC or the the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.
Paul Ryan, associate legal council for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C., said the response of the City Attorney's Office is typical.
"There's no ethical bar preventing a city attorney from investigating these matters," Ryan said.
"But they are likely not to give election matters a high priority. And they often won't advocate a legal position not held by a city council member or the mayor."
Turning to the City Clerk's Office for enforcement isn't an option. Stephanie Mizuno, deputy city clerk, said state laws prohibit her office from investigating campaign finance violations.
Even the city failed to act when it acknowledged laws were broken in the 2004 mayoral election.
At the time, Sacramento's election coordinator, Robert Hardcastle, said the city's ordinance had no teeth, and the city was powerless to do anything about the violations.
Former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin, who supports the idea of an ethics commission, filed complaints in connection with the mayoral race with county, state and federal law enforcement officials.
She said she was never contacted by any of the agencies about the complaint.
Soble had also taken his complaint to the FPPC, which investigated but took no action.
Robert Stern, president of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said he believes the FPPC has limited resources and will not often enforce local laws - a perception echoed locally.
FPPC Spokesman Jon Matthews disagreed.
"We don't consider local violations of the Political Reform Act any less important than state cases," Matthews said.
"A large portion of our annual enforcement caseload consists of local complaints."
Many local activists believe an ethics commission is the only way to have complaints aired and reviewed.
Ryan, whose job at the Campaign Legal Center includes studying ethics commissions, said typically the groups are given the power to investigate electoral violations and fine wrongdoers.
The best models usually include independent volunteers and a paid staff person - often an attorney, Ryan said. And it's crucial for the group to have access to outside counsel and secure funding so that the City Council can't withhold funds, he said.
Commission members are often prohibited from making campaign contributions, running for office or working for campaigns.
Commissions usually are part of a larger campaign reform package. In California, Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, commissions were set up by voters.
Without an ethics commission, Sacramento campaign violations will likely go unchecked, said Stern, adding, "Nobody's minding the store in Sacramento."
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