Future Laguna Beach City Council candidates will be allowed to receive up to $520 in campaign contributions this election year – an increase from $440 permitted per contributor voted on by city leaders four years ago.
The city is runner-up for the lowest direct campaign donations from a single person or entity in Orange County – only behind Laguna Woods, which has a $250 direct campaign contribution limit.
Following a unanimous city council vote on March 26 to increase campaign fund limits for candidates, residents can soon expect an ordinance brought forth to automatically adjust donation limits due to inflation following every election cycle permanently.
Councilmembers Bob Whalen and George Weiss left the room during the vote, both of whom are seeking reelection for city seats in November.
“It could be construed as self-interest depending on what’s done with respect to this issue, so I’m going to recuse myself from the vote,” Whalen said during the Mar. 26 regular meeting.
“Me too,” Weiss said as he left the dais with his colleague.
In a city staff report, City Clerk Ann Marie McKay recommended increasing the base campaign contribution limit to reflect changes to the Consumer Price Index in the Los Angeles-Orange County Metropolitan Area.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Assistant City Manager Gavin Curran calculated the adjusted amount, which was rounded to the nearest $10.
City Attorney Megan Garibaldi said during the meeting after speaking with city staff that the current ordinance might benefit from “clean-up changes.”
“A lot of things in this don’t make sense,” Council member Alex Rounaghi said quickly in agreement with the suggestion from the city attorney.
Some of the changes suggested by the city include switching the voting process on increasing campaign funding limits to odd-numbered years like other cities in Orange County.
Campaign Contribution Limits in OC
More than half of all OC cities do not have a self-imposed limitation on campaign contributions, instead abiding by the contribution limit that the California Fair Political Practices Commission adopted in 2022.
Under state guidelines, an individual, business entity, committee or PAC can contribute up to $5,500 per election to a candidate for city or county office.
Despite many cities opting for state regulations, some cities have restrictions that are below $1,000 allowed for donations to candidates including Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Irvine.
Irvine is among the lower contribution limits in the county at a maximum of $620.
Other cities like Santa Ana and Anaheim have higher limits for campaign donations, being set at $1,000 and $2,500, respectively.
Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College, said contribution limits are oftentimes reflective in the culture of campaigns of any given city, leaving some city leaders reluctant to change from traditional ways of campaigning.
“If the rule of campaign contributions is set by the current city council, you will often see the rules benefit those that have gotten elected under the current system,” Balma said in a phone interview.
However, inflation eventually creeps up with any elections when it comes to funding, despite ideas of tradition even for campaigns.
“Sometimes when somebody breaks through – spends a lot of their own money or gets a lot of little donations – you might see an incentive for the council to change things,” Balma added.
Based on filings from the city’s website, Laguna Beach city council campaigns have seen roughly $670,000 in donations from 2021 to 2023.
The most notable donations came in 2022 – an election year – which includes contributions stemming from local community groups, law enforcement and individual contributions.
Laguna Residents First, a PAC that has endorsed Council member Weiss in the past, spent over $75,000 on Laguna Beach politics in the midterm election two years ago, with most of their spending going towards advertising a failed ballot initiative to require voter approval of development projects.
Council members also racked up big donations from residents that year.
Former Councilman Peter Blake raised nearly $50,000 before losing his seat on the council, while current council member Sue Kempf raised nearly $45,000 and Rounaghi raised over $57,000 in 2022 as well, most of which came from individual donors.
