If you attend this evening’s 6 o’clock to 8 community meeting in the Dan Patacchia Room at City Hall, you will learn there are more campaign finance laws than there are hairs on your head.
Bald ladies and gentlemen are excluded from the present comparison.
City Councilman Jim Clarke and Vice Mayor Andy Weissman represent the subcommittee that has been trying, belatedly, to bring City Hall into line with state regulations on campaign finance.
An ordinance on campaign finance reform due for its second reading at next Tuesday’s one-day-delayed Council meeting pegs three main focal points:
- Raising the limit on cash donations from $500 to $1,000.
- Capping in-kind donations – presently unlimited – at a similar $1,000 to conform with state regulations.
- Allowing $2,000 donations from political action committees.
Like grains of sand, there are numerous other strands to be considered by anyone running for political office.
Mr. Clarke spoke of one:
“There is an exception to the ($1,000 rule), the Home Office In-Kind contribution, which actually is more restrictive. If somebody holds a fundraiser for a candidate in his office or his home, the in-kind contribution is limited to $500. That is state law.
“There also was an issue with respect to contractors,” Mr. Clarke said. “To what degree can you limit contributions from contractors who do business with the city, and for what time period? What if someone has an action pending before the city?
“We have to tweak that as well to put it in compliance with state law,” Mr. Clarke said.
