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Council vote caps cash to campaigns

City Council
Sunday, September 16, 2018

Campaign contributions in San Marcos have a cap after the city council approved amendments to the San Marcos Code of Ethics last week setting individual limits on contributions to council and mayoral candidates and total limits on contributions accepted by council and mayoral candidates during an election cycle. The individual limit is $500. The aggregate limit is based on a formula: the number of qualified voters in the most recent general election multiplied by 75 cents for mayoral candidates and by 50 cents for council candidates. The aggregate limit for the next elections, based on this formula, would be $25,000.

Mayor John Thomaides asked if any other city in the state of Texas limits campaign contributions like this. City Attorney Michael Cosentino said Austin has limits, but its ordinance only applies to contributions from people who live outside of Austin. Moreover, San Antonio has limits but they only apply to the amount of campaign contributions that can be spent reimbursing a candidate for campaign expenses.

Cosentino said the aggregate limit on contributions does not apply to the amount a candidate contributes to his or her own campaign.

“Someone with a lot of money is at a much greater advantage,” Thomaides pointed out. “... We’re limiting what someone who is not wealthy can raise in a race. … If we’re going to be the only city with a cap, we should at least have a cap that makes sense.”

“Let’s just hope that nobody runs that has $25,000 to throw away,” council member Saul Gonzales said.

The amendments to the Code of Ethics passed 5-2, with Thomaides and council member Scott Gregson voting no.

During a discussion of the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the campaign contribution caps, Gonzales proposed a measure that would prohibit council members from voting on certain items if they receive contributions from developers.

“The perception doesn’t look good,” he said. “I don’t like it. … I just don’t want it to appear that a council person is in somebody’s pocket.”

During further discussion of Gonzales’ proposal, council member Jane Hughson said she liked the idea, but that limiting the individual contributions to $500 was meant to help address that issue.

Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Prewitt asked if it would be possible for Gonzales to bring back some language to that effect for the second reading of the ordinance. Gonzales said he would be happy to.

Thomaides had some objections to the idea.

“So for $500, a council member’s bought off? Is that what you’re saying?” he asked Gonzales.

Gonzales said that was not the case.

“The perception, John — that people that receive several thousand dollars get to vote on the dais on things they shouldn’t be voting on,” he said, and that some council members abstain from a vote without stating why. Thomaides asked Gonzales for a specific instance of a council member voting on an item after receiving a large contribution, and Gonzales asked him about a recent abstention.

“Why did you abstain last time? … You didn’t tell your colleagues. You just got up and left.”

Thomaides said he had filled out the proper paperwork regarding the abstention from a vote.

Council member Ed Mihalkanin asked Cosentino to craft language regarding Gonzales’ recommendation rather than having the council members try to find wording for it before the second reading.

The first reading of the ordinance passed unanimously.

San Marcos Record

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P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666