A D.C. Council measure to make it harder for money to influence city contracts failed by one vote today.

Part of a larger bill about reforming the procurement process for city contractors which passed unanimously, the provision would have banned campaign contributors from bidding for contracts of over $100,000 for a year after making a donation to a District race or PAC. Chairman Phil Mendelson said it was all about “good government.”

All of the councilmembers who lost at the polls last week—At-large CM Vincent Orange (who penned the amendment), Ward 7 CM Yvette Alexander, and Ward 8 CM LaRuby May—voted in favor of striking the ban, as did Ward 4 CM Brandon Todd, Ward 2 CM Jack Evans, At-large CM Anita Bonds, and Ward 5 CM Kenyan McDuffie.

“I’m disappointed the campaign contribution provision was defeated,” Mendelson said in a release. “This was a very simple provision, similar to the law in other states and the federal government. It speaks to the need to be sensitive to how the public perceives the integrity of government.”

Orange argued that it would merely move the donations underground rather than create a more transparent system. He also said that it would disproportionately affect the African American wards, and the candidates seeking to represent them.

Alexander explained to DCist that she voted to reject the measure because it would deplete the donor pool too much in ways she argues are restrictive. “The people who have the means to give are making it in some way, shape, or form through the city,” she says. “You could get a business directory and easily call them up and convince a person to give you a contribution. But if that all goes out the window, then it’s based on who you know.”

And who you know, she says, has a lot to do with which ward you call home. “If you’re in Ward 3, for example, or Ward 2, the majority of the residents can write you a $500 check, so it’s no problem,” says Alexander. “In Wards 7 and 8, it’s very rare that a person can write a $100 check.”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh said that when companies get contracts after campaign donations, it creates the appearance of impropriety.

But Alexander says that’s insulting. “We all have to stop treating elected officials like they’re all corrupt,” she says. “Why is everyone looking at it from a negative viewpoint?” (It might have something to do with years of ethical controversies and federal investigations, some of which Alexander touted in email blasts this primary campaign about her competitor, former mayor Vince Gray.)

As Washington City Paper points out, Mendelson might find a more receptive council next year. Robert White and Trayon White, who bested Orange and May, both come from Attorney General Karl Racine’s office, and campaign finance legislation he introduced in February includes a measure to ban businesses from contributing to campaigns for two years before receiving large contracts.

Rob Marus, a spokesperson for Racine, says that today’s vote isn’t indicative of the council’s support for the AG’s legislation. Today’s measure was “sprung on everyone by the chairman,” he says.

“The idea is to improve both the reality and the perception of the integrity of the District’s politics,” Marus says. “I’m hopeful the majority of the council, whether the old council or the new council, is in favor of strengthening campaign finance.”

The full bill passed a preliminary vote unanimously, and the first reading will occur on June 28.