Springfield City Council held a public hearing Monday night on a bill that would implement campaign contribution limits – both in-kind and monetary — of $2,825 for mayor and city council candidates.
Before the hearing, Mayor Jeff Schrag introduced — and council passed — a substitute bill. Among other things, it does not create a city ethics commission and instead assigns any complaints of campaign finance violations to the Citizens Tax Oversight Committee.
"Number 2, it indexes the contribution limit to inflation, basically the average of the last four years," he said, "and that would be updated concurrent to when the state updates their limits. Number 3, it removes anything regarding failure to report contributions noting that that is the province of the Missouri Ethics Commission."
Also in the substitute bill, no complaints could be made in the period 15 days before an election.
Schrag said he made those changes to align with the Missouri Ethics Commission’s policies and to not duplicate what the commission does.
Several people spoke in favor of campaign contribution limits for mayor and city council candidates. NAACP Springfield President Kai Sutton was one of them.
"We believe that campaigns should focus on issues, not fundraising," said Sutton. "When reasonable limits are in place, candidates can spend more time engaging with voters and addressing real community needs instead of chasing large checks."
Another speaker, Rachel Jamieson said she was there on behalf of PFLAG, which has endorsed campaign contribution limits for mayor and city council. She expressed disappoint that a substitute bill had been passed and said she had been prepared to speak about the original measure.
"I had planned a careful speech but have had to pivot at the last minute due to numerous amendments made to this ordinance that were not discussed in the Plans and Policies Committee meetings and were released today just prior to this meeting," she said. She expressed concern with some of the changes, including the elimination of failure to report and a city ethics commission and allowing a complaint to be dismissed if an investigation hasn't been wrapped up within 180 days.
"These new amendments take all the teeth out of this ordinance. I worry," she said. "And I don't think they should be applied. And it allows leeway and loopholes for big money to still have disproportionate influence on our elections."
Councilwoman Monica Horton told Jamieson she also is in alignment with the original bill. She told her that, while there are elements of the substitute bill that she feels are good, there are still elements "that are up in the air" for her.
The only two who voted against allowing the substitute bill to move forward were Horton and Councilman Brandon Jenson.
Council will vote on the proposed campaign contribution limits on May 4.
