UNION CITY, Calif. — The Union City City Council is currently considering whether it should let people donate more money to local political campaigns. It’s been a decade since the council adjusted the city’s campaign contribution limit and some councilmembers think it’s time for an increase.
Right now, the most someone can donate to a candidate running for office is $720. Councilmember Gary Singh recommended increasing it to an even $750 and then raising it every other year according to inflation. Councilmembers Jeff Wang and Jaime Patiño recommended raising it 20% to $864.
Councilmember Scott Sakakihara and Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci expressed reservations about raising the campaign contribution limit. They said, now that the city is divided into smaller districts for council elections, candidates don’t need as much money to campaign.
Dutra-Vernaci added that incumbents have an easier time raising money since they have established relationships with members of the community compared to newcomers.
Patiño disagreed, saying inflation made it more expensive to run a campaign even with less ground to cover.
In the end, the council didn’t make a decision, but directed staff to look into formulas for regular increases to the contribution limit over time and possibly having a different limit for candidates running for mayor, who have to campaign all over the city.
The council also talked about setting a limit on how much money candidates can spend on their campaigns based on either how many people live in the city or how many people are registered to vote in the city.
The campaign contribution limit ordinance was originally passed in September 1994 with a limit of $500, according to a staff report. That limit was raised to $600 in 2005 and then $720 in 2014.
Even though state law allows for donations of up to $5,500, most cities in the county have much lower campaign contribution limits. Fremont has a limit of $640, Newark’s is either $100 or $500 if the candidate agrees to spend less than $50,000 on their campaign, and Hayward’s is either $400 or $1,700 if the candidate agrees to spend less than $86,000.
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 510-952-7455.