A recent meeting was held by City Council Member John Dingfelder to discuss several ideas on limiting contributions to City campaigns. Citing $1,180,104 raised in 2007 for City Races with a total of 4491 contributors, Dingfelder called for limits on how much and exactly who can give funds. Current limits are $500 and can be given by an individual, as well as, a corporation. We cited an example of over $5,000 being given to County Commissioner Rose Ferlita by Tommy Ortiz, his partners, and/or corporations they represented. Dingfelder had experienced a campaign with a well funded opponent, Julie Brown, that raised almost $400,000 total for the that one council seat

The meeting held at Kate Jackson Community Center was slightly rushed as the facility had an early closing time. Several times Dingfelder indicated the reform effort had to “not be about me.” He called for a volunteer to lead the effort, but held a vote of the almost 30 participants to indicate their choices as to what the limits should be and whether it should apply to the Mayor’s race also. The consensus was for a $200 campaign limit per natural person (restricting corporate giving) and that the limits should be applied to all council seats, single member and city wide, and to the Mayor’s race as well.

Arguments against making any change from current law focused on limiting freedom, the high costs of advertising rates/costs in the Tampa market, the free publicity that an incumbent office holder receives, and the potential cost of legal expenses to the city if the new changes were challenged in the courts.

Arguments for making changes included transparency of contributors, limiting the influence of special interest groups, establishing a more level playing field among candidates, the allowance for candidates to spend more time on issues rather than fundraising.

Attorney Pat Campbell called the elections “out of control.”

Several people were concerned about the costs involved in getting the message out. Additional discussion focused on the timing of the city elections. It seemed to be a split decision on whether city elections should be held in the Spring as they currently are or whether they should be held in the Fall with other partisan elections.

Plans are for another followup meeting to be held on Monday, March 17 – St. Patricks Day. An urgency was expressed in order to get a ballot initiative approved by the Attorney General if it was to appear on the November 2008 ballot. As indicated by Dingfelder, there are 3 ways in which to implement the changes: 1. a majority vote of council could change the law, but could also be changed at any time with the same vote. 2. a five vote council vote to put the issue on the ballot, or 3. a city wide petition initiative that could put it on the ballot. If on the ballot a simple majority could make the changes become law. Dingfelder indicated that fellow council members Mary Mulhern and Linda Saul-Sena would support the change, leaving the issue one council vote short. He asked for help in contacting council members to express your support for the changes.

A recent, similar initiative in Sarasota resulted in an over 80% vote to make similar changes.

We received many emails prior to the meeting calling it an “incumbents financing reform plan”. With the media coverage that an incumbent receives, many feel that a limit to funds will benefit the incumbent rather than any challenger.

It should be noted that John Dingfelder will not be able to run for this same council seat again due to term limits, but could seek a City wide seat.

Dingfelder is in the first year of his second term, with all elected city terms to expire in 2011. While his first term was marked with little distinction, his second term has taken a totally different approach. With the renovation of Old Hyde Park Village (a significant landmark in his district) up for a vote, he had to step aside due to his prior tenant position in the Village. He has also raised his visibility with several challenges to Mayor Iorio over the recent elimination of 100 positions through a proposed costs saving privatization effort and the funding for the redesigning of the Curtis Hixon Park/ Riverwalk. He questioned whether the eliminated positions were unfairly targeting minorities and called for just placing sod on the park rather than any other enhancements/designs to the centerpiece park of Mayor Iorio’s Riverwalk plan. More recently he challenged a possible increase of a less than $2 per month increase in the cost of solid waste/trash removal by suggesting saving the increase by changing the pickups to once per week rather than the current twice a week pick up.

Challenging minority layoffs, calling for saving funds on the Riverwalk, opposing a fee increase, challenging the Mayor, and now, calling for campaign reforms; many political insiders see this as only the start of a Dingfelder campaign for another office this fall – possibly County Commission. While almost all of the attendees at the Campaign Finance Reform meeting supported the changes, most saw it as a good idea that probably wouldn’t happen.

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