San Anselmo Adopts Stricter Election Reporting Standards

The San Anselmo Town Council Tuesday night approved an ordinance to enact stricter reporting requirements for independent expenditures – organizations that spend money in political campaigns for or against a candidate.

The ordinance comes in the wake of a similar move by Marin County and by the city of San Rafael and is part of an effort by the League of Women Voters to create more transparency and curb negative campaigning.

“When all the jurisdictions have adopted these ordinances, transparency in elections will be county-wide,” said Elissa Giambastini, chair of the campaign reform committee for the League of Women Voters

Giambastini pointed to elections like the 2004 Marin Municipal Water District election as an example of negative campaigning right here in Marin. In that election, anonymous flyers and phone calls attacked candidate Richard Rubin just three days before the election. Rubin went on to lose by a wide margin. It was not until 2010 that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) issued a warning to MMWD Board Member Larry Russell for his not disclosing his part in those attacks and for funneling money through Puerto Rico in an effort to mask the spending.

The FPPC regulates political spending and campaigning. Under FPPC regulations, an independent expenditure (an organization formed to campaign for or against a candidate) must disclose any spending over $1,000 that is made in the 16 days before an election.

However, Giambastini said that in a number of elections in San Rafael, Novato, Sausalito and at the county level there has been negative anonymous campaigning that did not trigger those reporting requirements. Additionally, the FPPC may not complete an investigation for years and voters would not be aware of the incidents in time. 

The San Anselmo Town Council had previously discussed that flyers could be printed up and mailed to every resident in town without going over $1,000.

The adopted ordinance, similar to the county’s ordinance and San Rafael’s version, requires any expenditure over $100 within 90 days before an election to be reported. The names of the biggest donors to the independent expenditure must be included on the campaign material – for example, printed on a flyer – and the names of all people who donate over $100 will be posted on the town website and notices will be published in local news outlets.  Information pointing to the town website will also be included on campaign materials, so that voters know where to look.

“We want this ordinance because we want transparency,” said Giambastini at Tuesday night’s meeting. “We want voters to know who is behind a candidate or issue.”

While all the council members agreed that stopping negative campaigning was an important issue, the exact details of the ordinance had taken a few months to hammer out.

Among concerns were how to regulate internet campaigns, at what level the spending threshold should be set, and how the infractions should be considered by a hearing officer. The full ordinance can be read here.

Ultimately, Mayor Ford Greene said he could not support the ordinance, because it made a violation a misdemeanor – an action he felt violated a person’s rights – and because if an alleged violator failed to respond to a violation notification within six days, they were automatically found guilty.

“I support the intent and the objective of the ordinance, but I don’t support the method it employs to get there, “ said Greene, who went call it “flatly unconstitutional.”

Greene also said he has been the victim of an anonymous attack website, Friends of San Anselmo, so he understands why transparency is important in elections.

The League of Women Voters also made a presentation of the ordinance to the Tiburon Town Council and will bring it to Mill Valley as well.