A Small Victory For Freedom Of Speech In Huntington Beach
Posted by: Jubal | 08/07/2007 2:12 PM
Last night, the Huntington Beach City Council voted 4-3 to increase the campaign contribution limit from the absurdly restrictive $300 to the overly restrictive $500.
Still, it's a step away from restricting political speech and in the direction greater liberty, so I'll take it. Better to be a 100 feet from Hell heading up than 10 miles away heading down.
Naturally, the OC Register story doesn't say which councilmembers voted which way. What it is about newspaper coverage that they regularly leave out such key information. If a free press is a cornerstone of the Republic, it helps to let voters know how their representatives are voting -- not just what the margin was.
Fortunately, a friend of mine who was at the council meeting gave me the breakdown:
In Favor Of Expanding Political Speech
Mayor Gil Coerper
Councilman Don Hansen
Councilman Joe Carchio
Councilwoman Cathy Green
In Favor of Restricting Political Speech
Mayor Pro Tem Debbie Cook
Councilwoman Jill Hardy
Councilman Ketih Bohr
My friend According to my friend, Mayor Pro Tem Debbie Cook commented that she'd make the limit $100 if she could. I like Debbie. I serve with her on the OC Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission and have found her to be a very nice, very smart straight-shooter. But the hard truth is campaign contribution limits are limits on speech. It costs money to communicate with voters. Donation limits structure the rules to the advantage of incumbents and self-funders. How does that clean-up politics or open the possibility of elected service to a greater universe of citizens?
As an aside, I might note the vote broke along party lines -- all the Republicans voting to increase limits, and all the Democrats opposing the increase.
Kudos to Councilman Don Hansen for enlarging the sphere of political liberty in Huntington beach, even if incrementally -- and kudos to Mayor Coerper and Councilmembers Carchio and Green for joining him.
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
This is not "freedom of speech". This is giving money to politicians to get elected. Who gives $500 to help someone run for city government, and why?
Whether in the end a $500 limit is better than a $100 limit, this I cannot say. More money to generate political junk mail - typically full of dubious content - somehow seems less valuable than "freedom of speech".
Politics is already too full of "spin". Say what you mean. You think bigger limit on campaign contributions makes sense. Do not call it something else.
Au contraire.
Yes I do think bigger limits make more sense.
But I also think donating to the candidate of one's choice is the exercise of my 1st Amendment right of free speech. When you place limits on the amount I can give to help the candidates and causes of my choice, you are limiting my free speech.
You may not like this particular expression of free speech, and you are free to be suspicious of the motives behind many political donations. But when you start placing restrictions on those donations, you open the door to greater and greater government regulations of when and how we can conduct campaigns or speak out for and against candidates and issues we care about.
Indeed, that's already happened under McCain-Feingold. And it hasn't made government and politics any cleaner -- just less free.
Dan Hansen in Huntington Beach and Denis Bilodeau in Orange are my hereos for increasing these limits.
Dan to 500.00
Denis to 1000.00
it shows they want freedom of speech, shame that one else on their councils brought this forward and made them carry all the water and political heat.