The Spokane City Council last night (Monday) overrode Mayor David Condon’s veto of a campaign finance ordinance. The vote was six-to-one, the same tally that carried the original passage of the measure.
In introducing the veto override, Council President Ben Stuckart answered the four main criticisms of his ordinance.
One, campaign finance is best regulated by Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission. He says that agency is deliberately underfunded and that its investigations take months, if not years, to complete. Two, his measure is unconstitutional. He says city attorneys and staff have reviewed all of the major related cases and found nothing in his ordinance that raises legal questions.
The third argument, Stuckart says, is that the measure treats contributions from city contractors and public sector unions differently.
“This is false," he said. "If a union or an individual or a corporation or a sole proprietorship bids on a contract with the city, and that is over $50,000, they will be banned from contributing to city officials in their election. They’re treated exactly the same. That’s why this has been held constitutional in eight different cities and the federal government. It’s not a fairness issue.”
The final argument is that the ordinance will create a new city bureaucracy that oversees campaign finances. Stuckart says that isn’t true either. He estimates it will only require about 20 hours a week by a local clerk.
Critics of the measure urged the council to let the veto stand and take some extra time to reconsider the ordinance. Representatives of the county Republican Party and the Spokane Homebuilders’ Association argued it favors city employee unions. One critic, Jackie Murray, agreed.
“We pay our union dues — I’m a Teamster member, local 690 — we pay our union dues and they decide who we should send our money to and it isn’t always who we like. I don’t think that’s really fair," Murray said. "I think the unions should actually be completely out of it. And I hope with all this time in front of us you guys can go back to the drawing board and maybe work with the mayor, because it’s a strong mayor city, and see what his objections are. Maybe they can be worked out.”
The mayor has said if his veto was overridden that he would send the ordinance to an outside review before considering whether he would enforce it.