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A pair of campaign finance reforms supported by Cypress City Council will change how local elections are funded this year, including an individual contribution cap that is one of the strictest in Orange County.
Councilmember David Burke championed the push to draw down the city’s limit on individual contributions to council candidates from $5,900 to $500.
Another change mandates that the names of the top five donors appear on campaign literature paid for by an independent expenditure committee.
“[There are] two primary reasons for campaign finance reform, [one is] to diminish the risk of pay-to-play politics,” Burke said during Monday’s council meeting. “The second is to improve transparency and give more voters more information. Most reasonable people agree that you should have some idea of who’s actually spending money behind the candidates who are running for office.”
Initial support for enacting both changes narrowly passed by a 3-2 vote, with Councilmembers Kyle Chang and Bonnie Peat voting against them.
Cypress previously discussed campaign finance reform in November, but opted to bring the issue back once a vacancy on the dais was ultimate filled by the appointment of Rachel Strong Carnahan to the council.
When campaign finance reform returned on Monday, some Cypress residents opposed the changes and asked Burke to recuse himself from the vote, as he founded Citizens Take Action, a nonprofit that advocates for a federal constitutional amendment to enact campaign finance reform.
“Regardless of the intent, that overlaps and creates a clear appearance of a conflict of interest when a sitting council member advances policy that directly aligns the organization they lead,” argued Rob Johnson from the public comment lectern. “Even the appearance of a conflict is enough to dissuade the public interest.”
Cypress City Atty. Fred Galante later opined that Burke did not have to recuse himself, as no such conflict existed from his nonprofit volunteerism.
Peat argued that limiting individual contributions would benefit incumbents and lead to more political action committee spending. She opposed enacting changes before the November elections, when Cypress residents will vote for the city’s three remaining council districts for the first time, to determine if any campaign finance changes are even needed.
“We have not had enough information [from] district elections to really say we need to put limits,” Peat said. “We need to wait until we have a full cycle [and] have the whole city elected by districts.”
Councilmember Chang agreed with Peat that adopting a $500 cap on individual contributions would have unintended consequences.
“Even with low contribution limits, groups will find a way to influence elections,” Chang said. “I’ve talked to some groups, and they will shift their money spent on elections from contributions over to expenditures.”
Cypress elections are not typically flooded with the same levels of corporate or union spending in bigger cities like Anaheim or Irvine. Candidates are often wealthy enough to loan themselves money to campaign on while raising funds from a small number of individual donors.
But some election cycles have seen significant PAC spending in the city of just under 50,000 residents.
During the 2022 elections, the Safe Neighborhoods PAC spent about $48,500 in support of three candidates that year, including roughly $11,700 backing Peat’s election.
Burke’s proposed reforms would provide for more disclosure on campaign literature paid for by PACs by listing top contributors who have donated $2,500 or more.
On the individual contribution caps, Chang wanted to find a middle-point, suggesting a $2,700 limit that would be in line with the county’s own limits. Burke made a motion to set it at $1,000 instead, but did not receive support from council colleagues.
Instead, councilmembers passed the $500 cap and disclosure policy as written. Any violation of the reforms would carry a $10,000 penalty.
“A number of cities have adopted laws like this,” Burke said. “Dark money is what’s been happening in Cypress for years. We’re trying to disclose the true source of the money so it’s not dark money anymore.”