Supreme Court won't review Akron's strict campaign-finance curbs

By The Associated Press

01.23.03

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AKRON, Ohio — The U.S. Supreme Court has opted not to review the strict campaign-finance restrictions approved by Akron voters in 1998.

Supporters deem the court's rejection as a victorious end to a long-fought legal case.

Opponents, meanwhile, vowed to keep fighting the restrictions, which impose some of the most stringent limits in the country.

"I think it's pretty much the end of the road," said Brenda Wright, managing attorney for the National Voting Rights Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit that helped defend the Akron initiative. "It means the contribution limits enacted in 1998 are now the law. From this point on, they should be applied in future elections in Akron."

Robert Gippin, the lawyer representing some of the current and former members of the Akron City Council who challenged the charter amendment, said that the case never actually went to trial. U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster found the charter change had constitutionality problems and threw it out before a trial.

Now Gippin said it should end up back before Polster for trial. "Our assumption is there should now be a trial," Gippin said.

He said challengers may ask the judge to continue to hold off enforcing the law, pending a trial.

A religious coalition known as Dollars and Democracy said the limits — $100 for individual contributions to council candidates, $300 for at-large council and mayoral candidates and a $25 cap for cash contributions — would ensure clean elections.

But those in the political arena said the limits were too low for a city the size of Akron, and that the statute wrongly imposed criminal penalties on violators.

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