With a crucial vote scheduled for Tuesday evening’s 7 o’clock meeting and the City Council deadlocked, member Jeff Cooper is playing it coyly.
He smiled as if to suggest, “Let the guessing begin.”
When asked if he is open to amending his opposition to approving campaign finance reform immediately, “I can’t say now,” he replied.
Mr. Cooper even has resisted divulging his thought processes or which way he is leaning.
Councilman Jim Clarke and Vice Mayor Andy Weissman are trying to update the 26-year-old hometown campaign finance laws to align with state regulations.
State law holds dollar limits should be the same for cash and in-kind donations. Culver City currently has a $500 cash cap and an open door for in-kind donations.
A proposed new ordinance – that may already be on life support – caps both categories at $1,000.
Not now, say Mr. Cooper and Mayor Mehaul O’Leary.
Even though the next City Council election is not until next year – the second Tuesday in April – they say changing donation regulations so close to the next campaign is unfair to the prospective candidates.
