On Monday, the Spokane City Council voted to override the veto by Mayor David Condon of a campaign finance ordinance. The vote met the supermajority requirement for an override, six-to-one.
The ordinance has many provisions. It halves the maximum contribution limits in city council and judicial races from $1,000 to $500. It defines the parameters of an election season, the time when candidates can raise money. And the measure requires the city monitor donations to candidates.
In his attempt to override, Council President Ben Stuckart characterized the main criticisms of his ordinance.
The most contentious is the belief that the measure treats contributions from city contractors and public sector unions differently.
“This is false," Stuckart 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.”
Critics argue that unions that don’t win city contracts, in other words, nearly all of them, can contribute to candidates, while the businesses with contract can’t.
Representatives of the county Republican Party and the Spokane Homebuilders’ Association argued that unfairly favors city employee unions. One union member, Jackie Murray, agreed.
“I’m a Teamster member, 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. I think the unions should actually be completely out of it,” Murray said.
Several critics argued that, with the next city election not on the ballot until August 2019, there’s no hurry to adopt this ordinance. And there’s plenty of time to work out a compromise with Mayor David Condon. Others, such as Sheila Collins, said this is the right time for this measure.
“Inaction around meaningful campaign finance reform will continue to allow PACs to funnel dark money," Collins said. "I know legislation has been introduced in Olympia this year to expand reporting requirements for PACs and that will be helpful, if those reforms are passed as intended. But that is not reason for us to not act locally.”
But others, such as Councilman Mike Fagan, say it lets people know that the progressives are in charge in Spokane. Fagan was the lone vote against the override.
“If this ordinance is left to stand, I think the end result is going to be this: that Mayor Condon and Mike Fagan will be the last conservatives that get a fair opportunity at running for and being elected to office in the city of Spokane,” Fagan said.
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.
