LAKEWOOD — Starting next year, candidates for city office in Lakewood will have to abide by contribution limits for the first time.
The Lakewood City Council, after much discussion, approved an overhaul of the city’s on Oct. 14, voting 10-1 to approve the new rules.
Campaign donations will be capped at $2,500 from any one person for council candidates and $5,000 for mayoral candidates under the approved regulations.
Cash and in-kind contributions will be treated equally, city officials said, meaning that taken together they cannot exceed the set limits.
Candidates who accept donations of $100 or more from limited-liability companies also will be required to report the names and addresses of every member of the LLC.
Candidates in the upcoming November election will not be held to the new standards. All changes will go into effect April 1, 2014, in plenty of time for the 2015 mayor’s race.
Contribution limits were the hot topic Oct. 14, with council members split on whether they were necessary.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ramey Johnson, who proposed eliminating the limits altogether, said for her, money equals speech and speech is constitutionally protected.
“Candidates in my opinion should be allowed to accept any amount of money they choose,” Johnson said. “As a candidate, you will be held to the standard of answering to the public why you took the money.”
Ward 2 Councilwoman Cindy Baroway agreed and said over the years, the city has been successful without contribution limits.
“The majority of the checks, donations are less than $100 for city council races,” Baroway said. “It’s your neighbors. It’s the people you meet, the people who know you, your family members.”
A vote to nix the limits failed, however, on a 4-7 margin. Supporting the motion were Johnson, Baroway, Ward 4’s Adam Paul and Ward 2’s Scott Koop. In opposition were Mayor Bob Murphy , Ward 1’s Karen Kellen, Ward 3’s Sue King and Pete Roybal, Ward 4’s David Wiechman and Ward 5’s Tom Quinn and Diana Wilson.
Another vote to raise the limits from the original proposal of $1,000 for council and $2,500 for mayor to $2,500 and $5,000, respectively, was approved 9-2, with Murphy and Wiechman casting the opposing votes.
Quinn, a supporter of the limits, said by the time finance reports are due and candidates can be held accountable for donations, the money has already been spent to “buy influence.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a sitting council member who contributes a large amount of money or if it’s an outside developer,” Quinn said. “Either way, there is a potential for corruption.”
Wilson said she believes the limits also strike a good balance between a “free-for-all and being too controlling,” allowing people to still compete while preventing one person from running away with things.
“We’ve had some situations that I have found embarrassing when people ask me about it,” Wilson said. “I think our document is definitely middle ground.”
A committee convened by Murphy has been examining the issue of campaign finance since February, primarily in response to a 2012 state appeals court ruling that said the state’s campaign finance regulations do not apply to home-rule cities with local rules on the books. That includes enforcement, which was previously handled by the Secretary of State and will now go through the City Clerk’s Office.
Some recent incidents also drew attention to the city’s regulations.
In 2011, Ward 4 Councilman David Wiechman donated more than $20,000 to then-Ward 3 candidate Pete Roybal, mostly through in-kind donations of advertising and other campaign materials, according to finance reports.
Roybal won the seat, but he was also fined $1,575 after a resident filed a complaint regarding a $2,000 loan to Roybal from Wiechman. Only banks are allowed to loan money to candidates under state law.
On Oct. 14, residents also brought up a complaint involving Murphy and the disclosure of the names of members of LLCs that made donations to his re-election campaign.
That complaint, filed by former city councilwoman Edie Bryan, was settled in late 2012 with the release of the names.
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/emilierusch
