The Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider whether to amend Riverside County’s campaign finance regulations so the county superintendent of schools is required to comply with the same caps in place for other county elected officials, as well as to institute new requirements for so-called “intra-candidate transfers” of funds.
“The proposed amendments provide greater transparency and allow everyone the right to participate and support the candidates of their choice,” according to an Executive Office statement posted to the board’s agenda for Tuesday. “The purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that individuals and interest groups continue to have a fair and equal opportunity to participate in electing candidates for county elective office.”
The changes sought by staff would be the first ones put forward since Ordinance No. 963, which fixes limits on campaign contributions for county candidates, was enacted in the fall of 2020.
For unexplained reasons, the revisions did not include the county superintendent of schools.
“It was and remains the intent of the Board of Supervisors to have included the superintendent of schools in the original version of this ordinance,” the EO stated. “This amendment is correcting an oversight.”
Then-Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, joined by Supervisor Chuck Washington, sought adoption of No. 963, which caps all individual contributions to any one candidate for county office at $20,000.
With the board’s anticipated approval Tuesday, the ordinance would set contribution parameters for the schools superintendent that are the same for the assessor-clerk recorder, auditor-controller, any county supervisor, district attorney, sheriff and treasurer-tax collector. The limits do not affect state, federal or even municipal elections.
The $20,000 cap applies to all individual contributions in a general, primary, recall or other election cycle. However, exemptions are permitted for candidates who contribute to their own campaign. For instance, the ordinance permits a candidate to self-loan up to $100,000 per election, but in doing so, the loan recipient’s opponent is entitled to accept an equal amount in funding to ensure parity.
The other proposed amendment before the board Tuesday concerns intra-candidate transfers, which would no longer be permitted without the express written consent of individual donors.
“When a donor gives money, they express support for a candidate for a specific office, and that expression is protected by the free speech clauses of the state and federal constitutions,” according to the Office of County Counsel. “But when a candidate then chooses to run for a different office, what becomes of the donor’s speech?”
The attorneys said a candidate for a certain office cannot expect that just because he or she pursues a different office, the original individual contributors support that new campaign and want the money they previously gave going to the new political endeavor.
“This (amended) ordinance prohibits intra-candidate transfers without the consent of donors to the first campaign,” according to the proposed amendment. “All intra-candidate transfers must be transparent and accounted for.”
The ordinance specifies that all individual contributions in excess of $1,000 be subject to instant documentation and presentation on the Office of the Registrar of Voters’ portal for transparency, adhering to the California Political Reform Act of 1974.
So-called “independent” expenditures by outside organizations in support of a candidate are not be impacted or controlled by the ordinance. Political action committees, unions, corporations and similar large organized donor groups generating and paying for their own advertisements and promotions are shielded from contribution limits under the U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens United v FEC, which was decided in 2010 based on free speech arguments.