'B' bounces back

Once threatened by a years-long and nearly $600,000 attack by Pasadena city officials, Measure B is making a comeback.

Tonight, Pasadena's most controversial law is expected to receive the blessing of the city's Task Force on Good Government, which to the joy of good-government activists is also seeking to add several important new anti-corruption provisions and enact campaign contribution amount limits for the first time in city history.

Also exciting for proponents, longtime Measure B critic Mayor Bill Bogaard, who favored assembling the task force, said he supports their preliminary findings.

"I'm confident that the recommendations that come through will be an improvement on Measure B, and that with widespread support, which is anticipated, they will be approved by the voters," Bogaard told the Weekly, pointing out that any change to Measure B would have to be done by ballot initiative.

The Taxpayer Protection Amendment, as Measure B is also referred to, was approved by more than 60 percent of voters in 2001, but Pasadena City Council members at first refused to certify the vote, then spent $576,000 to fight the initiative, which they decried as overly burdensome and potentially unconstitutional, all the way to the state Supreme Court.

It currently prohibits City Council members and other city officials from receiving money or other benefits from those whom their votes on development projects, city contracts and other forms of government spending have already benefited.

While all that seems simple enough, a Pasadena Weekly investigation found that six of eight City Council members took hundreds - and in some cases thousands - of dollars in illegal campaign contributions while the city battled the measure in court.

Facing threats of a lawsuit from former Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian and no other legal options, council members spent an additional $100,000 to implement the law, which requires tracking of government spending, then recruited former state Attorney General John Van de Kamp to head a task force to help them make the law more livable or create a competing ballot measure.

The task force, which cost the city another $98,000 to empanel, meets for the last time today and is expected to recommend the City Council craft a ballot measure that modifies Measure B in several important ways:

Contribution limits: Any candidate for city office, except those running for mayor, can accept no more than $1,000 from any one entity per election. Mayoral candidates are limited to $2,000.

Contract blackouts: While Measure B was written to restrict gifts only after a city decision, the Good Government Task Force wants to block those bidding for city contracts worth more than $25,000 from making political donations during the decision-making process.

Ballot measure committees: City officials can no longer get around Measure B by accepting funds through ballot measure committees in their control.

Outside agencies: If bodies such as the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority or the Metropolitan Water District will report benefits to the city, Measure B will apply to city officials serving on those boards. But without voluntary compliance, the law still cannot be enforced.

Internet disclosure: All information necessary for enforcing Measure B should be made publicly available over the Internet.

Nonprofit exemptions: While public officials can no longer be penalized for taking campaign contributions from board members of local charities supported by city funds, all such information must be recorded for public viewing.

County enforcement: Charged with enforcing Measure B, the City Attorney's Office has instead sought to defend officials charged with violating the law. The task force now wants to give civil and criminal enforcement and subpoena powers to the LA County District Attorney's Office.

These changes, said Measure B proponent Carmen Balber, are for the most part "real moves to strengthen the Taxpayer Protection Amendment and limit the corrupting influence of contributors."

She is a consumer advocate with the Ralph Nader-backed Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which drafted the law and defended it in court.

Paparian, who volunteered for the task force but was not selected, was especially pleased that prosecution of Measure B violators may soon be in the hands of the county.

"I'm cautiously optimistic, but we'll have to wait and see. I want to see what happens when it gets back to the City Council. It certainly looks like a triumph for Pasadena voters is in the making, but I don't want to jinx it by speaking too soon," said Paparian.

Council members will take the task force's recommendations and decide whether all, some or none of them will be part of an upcoming ballot initiative.

Though not entirely satisfied that the Measure B rewrite passes constitutional muster in its restrictions on political participation any better than the original, Bogaard said the draft proposal should have his support.

"I think that the recommendations will improve the legal standing of Measure B by making it more balanced and somewhat easier to understand and administer," said Bogaard.

"Do these recommendations eliminate the questions of constitutionality? They do not, and the question of constitutionality might well be raised at some point in the future depending on how the ordinance is applied or pursued," he said.

Aside from any limited last-minute tinkering, "I don't see a lot of changes" happening to the group's decision, said Van de Kamp.

Councilman Paul Little, who along with Councilman Steve Haderlein did not support changing Measure B, said he still fears any tinkering will nonetheless leave the law difficult and susceptible to loopholes.

"The best remedy is transparency and daylight," said Little. "What is in the public interest more than anything else is to understand who contributes to whom and in what degree."

While Balber would prefer that nonprofit organizations be treated like any other entity, a reprieve for 501c3, 501c4 and 501c6 groups, said Van de Kamp, will improve Measure B by no longer politically discouraging volunteer participation in community betterment efforts.

"There were competing values. I don't think it's appropriate to take the Chamber [of Commerce] out of city life," he said, pointing out that all city benefits awarded to nonprofits will still be recorded and disclosed.

In all, the Good Government Task Force has lived up to its name, said Balber.

"Sixty percent of Pasadena voters embraced campaign ethics reform. They took the message to heart like the [City] Council never did," she said.