Big Donors Lose Sway in Oakland

The City Council defeats a proposal that would have increased the amount of money that donors and PACs give to local candidates.

For a time, it looked as if this year's Oakland mayoral campaign might become a victim of big-money politics. First, City Attorney John Russo proposed to double the city's campaign contribution and expenditure limits. But when his plan failed to garner enough support, Councilmembers Ignacio De La Fuente and Jane Brunner backed a "compromise" proposal to raise the donor cap from $700 to $1,000. The new proposal also would have increased the contribution limit on political committees from $1,300 to $1,600, but it died last week when it too failed to earn enough votes.

Although the Brunner-De La Fuente plan would have maintained the cap on what candidates can spend in the mayoral race at about $370,000, it would have increased the power of big-ticket donors. After all, the typical $50 to $100 donation would be dwarfed by a $1,000 or $1,600 check. The proposal would have helped ex-state Senator Don Perata, a close ally of De La Fuente, who has depended heavily over the years on large donors.

Not surprisingly, Perata's main opponent in November, Vice Mayor Jean Quan, voted against the compromise plan. Quan is running a grassroots campaign and will depend on small donations to get elected. Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who has launched an exploratory run for mayor, also voted against raising the limits. In her 2008 campaign for council, Kaplan relied heavily on small donations in her win against Perata's former chief of staff Kerry Hamill.

Both Russo's proposal and the compromise plan also were rejected by the Oakland Public Ethics Commission. And their defeat means that this year's mayoral and council races will use the existing donation and expenditure caps, which limit the power of big donors. Voting with Kaplan and Quan were Councilwomen Nancy Nadel and Pat Kernighan, who is up for reelection this year. Voting with Brunner and De La Fuente was Councilman Larry Reid. The final council member, Desley Brooks, who also is up for reelection, missed last week's vote.

Mayor Ron Dellums, who has not yet announced whether he plans to seek reelection, also made a rare appearance at last week's council meeting to cast a tie-breaking vote. The council had deadlocked 4-4 on a plan backed by Quan and Brunner to use $100,000 of the city's public campaign financing fund for additional voter outreach for ranked-choice voting. Kaplan and De La Fuente had wanted to use the entire fund, arguing that the money the city and county already plan to spend is not enough to teach voters how to rank their choices on the November ballot. However, Dellums sided with Quan and Brunner.