ARTICLE XVII. ELECTIONS
A. Increasingly high campaign expenditures have become endemic in American politics, and campaigns in the City of Alhambra are no exception. Incidental to the high cost of election campaigning is the problem of improper influence, real, potential, or perceived, campaign contributions may have in local elections and policy making.
B. Equal and fair representation is paramount to democracy. A by-district electoral system helps to ensure compliance with the California Voting Rights Act and that all city residents are fairly and equally represented by councilpersons of their districts. Such a system is intended to preserve democratic institutions, foster responsible government, decrease the cost of running an effective City Council campaign and subsequently money’s influence in politics, and encourage greater electorate participation in the political and governmental process.
C. It is the purpose and intent of this legislation to:
1. Place realistic and enforceable limits on the amounts persons and other entities may contribute to political campaigns in Alhambra municipal elections;
2. Ensure and promote integrity, honesty, fairness, and transparency in municipal election campaigns;
3. Provide opportunity for all citizens to become candidates for city office unhindered by a need to meet increasingly high campaign costs;
4. Prevent impropriety, the appearance of impropriety, or the potential for corruption;
5. Place a premium on messaging, qualifications, and good governance rather than fundraising and power politics;
6. Alleviate the time, financial burden, and need for excessive fundraising while running for City Council by limiting both the geographic area in which candidates need to campaign and the number of voters which candidates need to reach, thereby emphasizing issues of importance to their constituents;
7. Better ensure that the demographic makeup of the city will be more equally and fairly represented by their elected leaders;
8. Incentivize councilpersons elected from their districts to better represent the residents of their districts;
9. Eliminate district vote dilution;
10. Diminish the possibility that a minority group would face dilution of their votes;
11. Encourage more candidates to run for City Council by removing monetary barriers, thus fostering more competitive elections;
12. Provide full and fair enforcement of all the provisions of this article.
A. For the purpose of this article, certain words and phrases are defined, and the definitions set forth as follows shall apply to the provisions of this article unless it is apparent from the context that a different meaning is necessarily intended.
1. “By-district” shall mean election of members of the Alhambra City Council by voters of the district alone.
2. “Candidate” means any person who is a candidate for an elected city office or who is an elected city official and who is the subject of recall election, or who receives contributions or makes an expenditure or gives his or her consent for any other person to receive a contribution or make an expenditure with a view to bringing about his or her nomination or election to city office, whether or not the specific elective office for which he or she will seek nomination or election is known at the time the contribution is received or the expenditure is made and whether or not he or she has announced his or her candidacy or filed a declaration of candidacy at such time. An individual who becomes a city candidate shall retain his or her status as a city candidate until such time as that status is terminated pursuant to Cal. Gov’t Code § 84214. “Candidate” does not include: (1) any person within the meaning of 52 U.S.C.A. § 30101(2); and (2) any candidate for the Alhambra Board of Education.
3. “City” means the City of Alhambra, a California municipal corporation.
4. “City Clerk” shall mean the duly appointed City Clerk, along with any person serving as acting or interim City Clerk, and any member of the City Clerk’s office staff or designee.
5. “City Council” shall mean the elected governing body of the City of Alhambra as defined in Article VI, Section 37 of the Alhambra City Charter.
6. “Committee” means any person or combination of persons formed for the purpose of promoting or opposing the election or reelection of a person to city elected office who directly or indirectly, (i) receives contributions, or (ii) makes independent expenditures or (iii) makes contributions at the behest of any city candidate within the meaning of Cal. Gov’t Code § 82013. A campaign committee includes any “Controlled Committee” within the meaning of Cal. Gov’t Code § 82016, any “General Purpose Committee” within the meaning of Cal. Gov’t Code § 82027.5, any “Primarily Formed Committee” within the meaning of Cal. Gov’t Code § 82047.5, any “Sponsored Committee” within the meaning of Cal. Gov’t Code § 82048.7, or political action committee.
7. “Contractor” shall mean any person or entity that has an existing contract, agreement, or other arrangement to provide the city with goods, services, or other items, or who has an interest in or expectation of obtaining such a contractual arrangement in the future. The term shall include any agent or representative of the contractor and where the contractor is a business entity shall include all owners, shareholders, principals, partners, members, officers, directors, and managers.
8. “Contribution” shall have the same meaning as set forth under Cal. Gov’t Code § 82015.
9. “Councilperson” shall mean a member of the City Council.
10. “Developer” shall mean any person or entity who is currently seeking, or who has an interest in or expectation of seeking from the city a specific plan, zone change, development agreement, density bonus, subdivision tract map, conditional use permit, or an industrial or commercial use having a building area of 20,000 square feet or more. The term shall include any agent or representative of the developer and where the developer is a business entity shall include all owners, shareholders, principals, partners, members, officers, directors, and managers.
11. “District” shall mean a geographic area of representation created for the puipose of municipal elections pursuant to state law.
12. “Election” means any primary, general or special municipal election held in the city, including a recall election.
13. “Excessive Contribution” means any contribution accepted that would cause the total amount of contributions from a single donor to exceed the contribution limitations set forth in this article.
14. “Independent Expenditure” shall have the same meaning as set forth under Cal. Gov’t Code § 82031.
15. “Loan” means the temporary transfer of money or goods for the personal use of an individual with the exception that the money or goods will be returned.
16. “Officeholder” shall mean any person who holds elected office in the City of Alhambra.
17. “Person” shall have the same meaning as set forth under Cal. Gov’t Code § 82047.
18. “Political Action Committee” refers to any committee or organization as defined in Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 82048.7 or 84222.
19. “Political Reform Act” means the California Political Reform Act of 1974 (Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 81000 et seq.) and the related regulations of the California Fair Political Practices Commission as amended from time to time.
Loading...