bobfoster Mayor Bob Foster has done Long Beach residents a service by thumbing his nose at a key portion of the city’s voter-enacted 1994 Campaign Reform Act. Foster was legally entitled to do what he did, thanks to the same First Amendment that gives us the right to sandpaper him and others on various fronts.

In essence, Foster simply did what politicians in Sacramento—where he used to be a lobbyist for Southern California Edison—are allowed to do: he shifted over $147,000 collected for his April 2010 mayoral reelection campaign (most of it amassed in 2009 before it was clear his only ballot opponent would be a collegiate socialist) to a political committee he quietly formed in August 2010 to collect money for a state Treasurer campaign in 2014. (And yes, Foster can now shift the money from his “State Treasurer” committee to some future committee to run for something else.)

Foster concealed his actions in August and disclosure was kept to a minimum until Dec. 1, when LBReport.com ran the story as the red-banner headlined game changer that it is. But that change officially occured in October, when City Hall pointed out that Foster’s money transfer violates a section of the Campaign Reform Act and in return received a letter from Foster’s lawyer citing a 1992 federal Court of Appeal ruling that it’s unconstitutional to prevent intra-candidate campaign contribution transfers (by candidates to their own committees).

In one fell swoop, Foster’s action relegated a key part of Senator Alan Lowenthal’s legacy in Long Beach to the dust bin of history. When Senator Lowenthal was Councilman Lowenthal, one of his top priorities was enacting the Campaign Reform Act, which included a number of restrictions. One of them was intended to prevent Long Beach candidates from amassing large warchests to seek Long Beach office (simultaneously scaring off other candidates) then using “leftover” sums (which could come from entities with different interests than Long Beach) to pave the way for the Long Beach politician’s next political step.

The federal appellate court ruling, cited by Foster’s lawyer, was made in 1992—meaning that type of provision was unenforceable when the city council put it on the ballot in 1994 and voters enacted it a few months later.

So far, Lowenthal has said nothing about the role Foster, now his now political ally, has played in destroying that part of the ordinance.

Some may say, accurately, that the law is what the Court said it is and Mayor Foster shouldn’t be blamed for exercising his constitutional rights. Fair enough, but there are other rights involved here.

For 16 years, Long Beach elected officials and candidates were told by City Hall that they couldn’t do what Foster just did. The rights of those former officials, and the rights of voters who might have wanted to send them to higher office, are now dust in the wind.

That same principle may have also affected other current elected officials, since a time-limited window allowing intra-candidate transfers from the 2010 election cycle has now passed.

What has happened is a political game changer. Elected officials are now invited to calibrate their actions based on how to maximize campaign contributions (from their districts and beyond) that can now be amassed, without City Hall objection, to finance their next political move inside or outside Long Beach.

We are not weeping over this. We are not among those who believe elections can be bought, although we do believe they can be lost by fearful or unprepared campaigns. Foster is not fearful or unprepared. His 2010 reelection strategy was to frighten off challengers by amassing a large political war chest…and it worked. That left him with a large “leftover” sum which he could have legally given to charities; instead, he gave it to himself for his next political step.

This didn’t come out because Foster issued a release informing voters. It drippled out belatedly, during a low-visibility Nov. 30 City Council “Elections Oversight Committee” meeting (chair Garcia + Schipske & DeLong), agendized with the less than revealing title “Recommendation to discuss policy on campaign account transfers” and no written backup material to telegraph the punch.

When Assistant City Attorney Heather Mahood was given the floor, she spelled what had happened in clearly stated, no-nonsense prose. To hear her words and the Committee members’ reactions, click here.

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