[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: RE: 5/21/2013 - Agenda Item 5A

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt







Kathy – Yes, I’d like clarification on both of your responses:
 
-- Regarding ditching the concept of political committees: now I’m confused as to how “true” membership organizations (such as the Chamber, Boulder Tomorrow,
 PLAN-Boulder, FIDOS, etc.) would then support/oppose candidates.  Would they all need to form separate committees that raise money independently, report all the contributions (one of which could, presumably, come from the organization itself, but would be
 limited to $100), etc.?
 
-- And at this point I’m not sure I’m clear as to how such organizations might do the same with issues, since political committees now cannot take positions
 on issues.  But in this case, I assume (??) that a contribution to an issue committee can come from the very organization that created it, with no limit on the amount – so that there is still no listing of individual contributors but just an aggregate amount? 
 In which case, how is this effectively different from what we now have?
 
-- Regarding “members,” I think your suggestion might actually make things worse in the sense that corporations (and the like) would then certainly be exempted,
 since not only don’t they have “members” (unless we so define it so they do), but they certainly don’t have “members that pay regular dues
”  Would it not just be simpler to state that corporations (and the like) simply must declare themselves as political
 committees if they support/oppose candidates, and that they don’t need to meet the specified criteria?
 
Thanks --Matt
 


From: Lewis, Alisa

Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 6:45 PM
To: HOTLINE
Subject: Fwd: 5/21/2013 - Agenda Item 5A


 

 


 



From: "Haddock, Kathy" <Haddockk at bouldercolorado.gov>
Date: May 20, 2013, 5:42:07 PM MDT
Subject: FW: 5/21/2013 - Agenda Item 5A




 
Response to Councilmember Ageton Question about Agenda Item 5A
Political Committees and Reporting Requirements
 
Councilmember Ageton:  Thank you for your questions to clarify the Campaign Financing Disclosure
 provisions.  To put the changes to Chapter 13-2 in context, it may be helpful to think of the overall purpose of Chapter 13-2.  The campaign reform initiated in 1999 was to provide transparency of the parties supporting or opposing issues and candidates, and
 to limit the amount of money that can be contributed to support or oppose a candidate.  Political committees have historically been exempt from the limitation on the amount of money that could be contributed to support or oppose a candidate. 

 
For the questions you raise:
1)     
 Political committees were separated in Chapter 13-2 from Unofficial Candidate Committees, which effectively eliminated political committees from the $100 contribution limitation
 that applied to candidates.  Political committees had been recognized by and filed disclosures with the secretary of state as committees that are formed to be active in several political arenas, including elections, and they operate on a continual basis. 
 When members of a political committee pay dues, they are paying for the general position of the political committee on numerous issues, not contributing money to specifically support candidate(s).  Therefore,

a.      
the “contributions” that would be disclosed would be the political committee itself, not the individual dues-paying members;

b.     
the continual operation of a political committee makes them different from other candidate committees that are formed only for the applicable election, then must disperse
 all funds; and
c.      
political committees are not subject to the $100 contribution cap that is in section 13-2-17. 

 
The state stopped accepting political committee filings for those committees involved only in local elections.  Therefore, those political committees
 either had to form separate candidate committees under Chapter 13-2  if they wanted to endorse candidates, or the city had to amend Chapter 13-2 to adopt a procedure to replace what the secretary of state previously did.  Staff chose the latter, but it may
 cause too much confusion.  If Council believes the intent of Chapter 13-2 is better served by requiring groups who formerly filed as political committees to form candidate committees rather than the city having a separate classification for political committees
 supporting or opposing candidates, Section 13-2-12 regarding political committees can be eliminated from Chapter 13-2.  If it is eliminated, in order to support or oppose one or more candidates, a political committee will have to form separate unofficial candidate
 committees and be subject to the $100 contribution limit.    
 
2)     
The “members” portion definition of a political committee is the part of the definition that differentiates a political committee regardless of the legal business identity
 under which it is formed.  If it would be more helpful, and Council determines to keep Section 13-2-12 as a separate category for political committees, Council could expand the “members” portion of the definition to be something like “members that pay regular
  dues to support the political activities of the committee.” 
 
For the edits, corrections will be made by an errata for the Council meeting.  In case Council determines
 to eliminate the distinction of political committees from other unofficial candidate committees in Chapter 13-2 (and because, as a result of the confusion caused by continuing to treat political committees differently than other candidate committees, staff
 believes it would be better to do so) we will post how Ordinance 7904 would be revised to eliminate political committees Tuesday morning.  Please let us know if you have any additional questions before the Council meeting.   
 


From: "Ageton, Suzy" <AgetonS at bouldercolorado.gov>
Date: May 18, 2013, 11:19:48 AM MDT
To: HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: 5/21/2013 - Agenda Item 5A




I still have questions and some edits for the proposed amendments to Ordinance 13-2.

1)  Since political committees are defined as both accepting contributions and making expenditures on behalf of council candidates, why are they required to report only on their expenditures?  If one of the goals of 13-2 is transparency, don't we want to know
 who the contributions are coming from specifically along with how they are being spent?

2)  According to the definition of a political committee,  one of its distinguishing features is that it has members.  How are members defined, specifically for a corporation?  There is also a reference in the memo to these members being "dues paying."  If
 a group, association, corporation, etc. does not have dues paying members, does that mean it does not qualify as a political committee?


There are a few edits to clean up the language in 13-2.  

1)  packet page 109, (d) (3), strike the phrase "or to support or oppose an issue"
2)  the ordinance is inconsistent in referring to "a candidate" or to "candidate(s)," we should choose one form or the other

Suzy

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