Alameda County Supervisors to Vote on Doubling Campaign Contribution Limits

by Bob Britton

Supervisors David Haubert and Nate Miley are proposing an ordinance amendment to significantly increase the dollar amount candidates can accept for their campaign coffers.  The amendment aims to double the current campaign contribution limits for Supervisor elections. The issue will be raised at the upcoming  Board of Supervisors meetings. Check their agendas, which are posted a couple of days before their meetings. View their schedule and agendas at bos.alamedacountyca.gov/broadcast

Currently, Alameda County has a contribution limit of $20,000 per person or entity per election cycle, which is already the highest among the other five immediate Bay Area Counties, including Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. Those limits range from $500 in San Francisco’s publicly financed elections to $5,900 in Marin County.

If their proposal passes, the amount Supervisorial candidates would be able to accept would double to $40,000 from each person or entity for each election cycle, with primary and runoff elections considered separate cycles. The limit for county-wide elective offices would increase from $40,000 to $60,000.

The supervisors also propose to eliminate the current prohibition on multiple campaign committees for each candidate.

In 2010, Supervisor Haubert’s District 1 predecessor, Scott Haggerty, successfully passed the current contribution limits just before the state passed limits of $5,600 (adjustable to inflation) for all counties that did not have their own contribution limits.

In Orwellian language, he claimed it was “to create an equal playing field," but it set the limit at 3.5 times the state statute. Haubert and Miley’s current proposal would set the limit at 7.7 times the current state statute. Independent campaign committees are already not governed by these limits.

ICJJ opposes this egregious increase in campaign contribution limits. It greatly exceeds the limits in neighboring counties. We should be lowering the contribution limits to truly create an equal playing field.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 

Our vote is sacred, and it should not be diluted by those who can give tens of thousands of dollars to any one candidate in our county elections. If you would like to influence the Board of Supervisors' vote on this important issue, email your comments to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors at CBS@acgov.org. Include your name and address and ask that your comments be forwarded to all five supervisors. All five supervisors will vote on this issue, so do not limit your message to your own district Supervisor. A simple message is best, such as:

Dear Alameda County Supervisors,

I oppose any increase to campaign contribution limits in Alameda County elections. The limits are already much higher than those in the surrounding Bay Area counties. My vote is sacred and should not be diluted by anyone who can give tens of thousands of dollars to a candidate. We need to get big money out of politics. Thank you for your attention to this matter. 

Side Note: Bob’s comments can also be seen in his Letter to the Editor published in the Castro Valley Forum newspaper. Visit https://bit.ly/3K7Xpne