Dear Ventura County Board of Supervisors,

Last week, citizens of Ventura County called our Los Angeles office branch of California Common Cause expressing concern about agenda item #32 for your upcoming meeting on Tuesday, February 23, 2010: Recommendation of Supervisors Bennett and Long to adopt Amendments to Ordinance No. 4395 Regarding the Ventura County Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance (“Ordinance”).

In the Sup. Bennett and Long letter, the ten-year track record of the Ordinance is described as giving candidates the ability to “effectively campaign and communicate with voters” and reduce the number of complaints to the Ethics Commission. Given the Supervisors’ stated reluctance to delete the independent expenditure contributions portion of the law, we encourage you to wait until and unless there is a definitive court ruling on that point.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decided only that corporations have a right to make political expenditures from general treasury funds. The court did not address the validity of laws limiting contributions by corporations to independent expenditure committees, and so has no direct bearing on Ventura County’s Ordinance.

The issue of contribution limits to independent expenditure committees is still an open question in California because the district courts are split. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is due to resolve this split in a pending case, Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce v. City of Long Beach.

California Common Cause encourages the Ventura County Board of Supervisors not to change the laws regarding contributions limits to independent expenditure campaigns until and unless there is a definitive court ruling on that point. Further, the Ordinance should not be changed because there is a pending election on June 8, 2010, and candidates have already begun acting in reliance on existing campaign finance law. For more information or questions, please contact Anjuli Kronheim at 213-252-4552.

Sincerely,
Anjuli Kronheim Kathay Feng

Southern California Organizer Executive Director