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HOW A TINCUP ORDINANCE WOULD MAKE POLITICS 'CLEANER

Community activist, Gerrie Schipske, again called upon the Long Beach City
Council to enact an ordinance that would require council members to publicly
disclose at the time they vote on an issue if they have accepted more than $500
in political contributions from any person or organization related to the issue
during the previous four years or if they had or have any business dealings with
any person or organization related to the issue.

The ordinance would also prohibit council members from voting on matters
involving people and organizations from whom council members have
accepted more than $1,200 in political contributions during the previous four
years. Such political contributions would include those made to a council
member for all their political campaigns during the previous four years.

The TinCup ordinance is patterned after a movement started by Shirley Grindle
in Orange County to stem the influence of campaign contributions on the
decision making of elected officials. TINCUP stands for Time Is Now to Clean
Up Politics.

“Local residents are becoming more concerned about who impacts the
decisions made by the city council,” states Schipske. “Although Long Beach
has done a great job in campaign finance reform by limiting campaign
contributions, a TINCUP ordinance would let voters know exactly who is giving
money to council members and for what issues. The ordinance would prove
voters with a ‘conflicts check’.”

Schipske points out that while campaign contributions are limited to $350 for
council members in the primary and $350 in the run-off, due to term limits,
more and more council members run for other offices while sitting on the
council or prior to winning a seat on the council. “In those races, the
contribution limits are much higher and are often given by the same people and
organizations that have issues before the city council,” Schipske observes.
“Conceivably a council member could receive far in excess of $1,200 during
four years depending on what political offices they seek. Voters would have to
spend an inordinate amount of time tracking all these contributions to analyze
the impact on a particular politician. TINCUP would make the politician do the
work. Additionally, if the Councilmember has or had any business dealings
with anyone related to the issue being voted upon, the Councilmember would
be required to publicly disclose that fact before a vote.”

Schipske proposes that penalties be assessed council members who do not
comply with the ordinance, including perhaps a financial fine. She also
proposes that the city clerk and city prosecutor be responsible for enforcing the
law. The city clerk currently receives the campaign reports from each council
member and would need to calculate the total contributions received by a
council member from a single source. Councilmembers who seek other
offices or who sought other office prior to being elected to city council in the
previous four years of the vote, would have to provide the city clerk with those
campaign reports as well. Councilmembers would be required to check off an
agenda item as "needing disclosure" or "does not need disclosure."

Schipske added that while enforcing the ordinance will be a time-consuming
process, “ it will provide incredible accountability and a transparency that voters
deserve to have. I hope that this concept can be adopted at state and federal
levels as well.”





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