NORWOOD — Mayor Joe Hochbein's 1999 acceptance of $23,000 in campaign contributions from Jeff Anderson, the developer behind Rookwood Commons, has prompted City Council to set new campaign contribution limits.

        Councilman Keith Moore said the contributions cast suspicion on the city's relationship with the shopping complex.

        Voting 7-2 Tuesday, council members agreed that citywide council candidates may not receive more than $2,000 from individual donors, and ward candidates cannot receive more than $1,000 from individuals.

        For years, Norwood has been rife with contentious partisan politics. Tuesday's vote came after more than a year of debates over the proposed limits.

        “Quite honestly, I'm tired of it, the whole idea that city officials are for sale,” Mr. Moore said. “I find it hard to believe that anyone in the future is going to sell Norwood out for these limits.

        “(This ordinance) gives the people of Norwood some assurance that their officials are not going to be bought,” he said.

        Council members John Fenton and Cassandra Brown voted against the campaign contribution limits, saying they believe such limits infringe upon constitutional rights.

        But Councilman Thomas F. Williams, who ran against Mr. Hochbein in 1999, said, “It's the right thing to do.

        “When large sums of money come into a city that is 3 square miles and has a 21,000 population, it erodes the trust of the voters,” Mr. Williams said.

        Mr. Williams received about $11,000 in contributions. None was from Mr. Anderson.

        Mayor Hochbein received about $60,787 total donations, according to campaign finance reports filed at the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

        Mr. Anderson contributed $23,000 — 40 percent — of that total, the reports indicated.

        While he was making the contributions, he also was going before city officials to request zoning changes and eminent-domain procedures that would allow his project to open two years ago.

        Mr. Anderson, who contributed another $10,000 to the Mayor Joe Hochbein Committee in June 2001, was out of town and could not be reached for this story.

        “People like to blame everything on me,” Mr. Hochbein said. But “it was appropriate and legal. There's been no showing of undue influence.”

        “I wasn't the one who invented taking contributions from (donors). If it's legal, it's legal. If you're going to regulate it, regulate it properly — and $2,000 is too high.”

        The campaign contribution limits are in line with those for statewide races. In Ohio, individuals cannot contribute more than $2,500 to a candidate for governor, the state House or Senate.

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