Riverside County补上竞选捐款上限漏洞：县学监纳入每场选举2万美元个人捐款上限
Riverside County 监事会在 10 月 13 日的例会上全票通过竞选财务条例修正案，补上县学监（County Superintendent of Schools）一职多年未被纳入捐款上限的漏洞。修正案通过后，竞逐县学监的候选人与其他县级民选官员一样，受每场选举个人捐款 2 万美元上限约束。表决以 4 票赞成、0 票反对通过，监事 Chuck Washington 缺席。
这项上限源于县监事会 2020 年 11 月通过的第 963 号条例（Ordinance 963），但原条例起草时漏列了县学监。县府为此次例会准备的报告写道：「本条例的目的，是确保个人与利益团体在选举县级民选官员时，继续拥有公平、平等的参与机会。」报告同时指出，把县学监纳入上限「从一开始就是监事会的本意」，此次修正属纠正疏漏，并将溯及原条例生效日期适用。
修正案还禁止候选人在自己的多个竞选委员会之间相互转账，除非取得每位捐款人的书面同意。上限只约束他人捐款，不限制候选人自掏腰包投入自己竞选的金额。
现任县学监 Edwin Gomez 于 2020 年获任命、2022 年在无对手情况下当选。县学监一职列入 2026 年选票，将在 11 月 3 日的选举中改选。此前，2025-26 年度 Riverside County 民事大陪审团曾在报告中批评第 963 号条例存在漏洞：当某位候选人获得 2 万美元以上的独立支出支持等情形出现时，上限即被整体解除，大额捐款仍可长驱直入。（GSM 据 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin、Riverside Press-Enterprise 报道）
Riverside County Closes Campaign Donation Loophole: Schools Superintendent Brought Under $20,000 Cap
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on October 13 to amend the county's campaign finance ordinance, closing a loophole that had left the County Superintendent of Schools outside the county's donation caps for years. Under the amendment, candidates for schools superintendent are now subject to the same $20,000 per-election individual contribution limit as other county elective officials. The vote was 4-0, with Supervisor Chuck Washington absent.
The cap stems from Ordinance 963, adopted by the board in November 2020, which omitted the superintendent's office when it was drafted. A county report prepared for the meeting states: "The purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that individuals and interest groups continue to have a fair and equal opportunity to participate in electing candidates for county elective office." The report said including the superintendent was the board's intent from the start, that the amendment corrects an oversight, and that it applies retroactively to the ordinance's original effective date.
The amendment also bans transfers between a candidate's own campaign committees unless individual donors give written consent. The limits do not apply to a candidate's contributions of personal funds to their own campaign.
Incumbent Superintendent Edwin Gomez was appointed in 2020 and ran unopposed in 2022. The superintendent's office is on the 2026 ballot, to be decided in the November 3 election. The change follows criticism from the 2025-26 Riverside County Civil Grand Jury, which found that under Ordinance 963 the caps fall away entirely in races where a candidate benefits from independent expenditures of $20,000 or more, leaving room for large donors to wield outsized influence. (GSM, based on Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and Riverside Press-Enterprise reporting)
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：Riverside County法院大楼。Photo by nccmrm97, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
