Attorney general candidate sues to open hearings

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State Rep. Margaret Donnelly sued the Missouri Ethics Commission on Wednesday in an attempt to force open its secretive hearings for candidates who want to keep money raised in excess of Missouri's reinstated contribution limits.

The lawsuit by Donnelly, a Democratic candidate for attorney general from St. Louis, claims the ethics commission is violating Missouri's open-meetings law by holding the closed hearings.

The Ethics Commission will not confirm whether any hearings have been held, nor whether any candidate is even making a case to keep the money.

But Republican Sen. Tom Dempsey, who won a special election in September for a St. Charles County seat, confirmed Wednesday that he has asked the ethics commission to be exempt from the refunds. Dempsey said his hearing hasn't been set yet and he doesn't care if it is open or closed.

Since 1994, Missouri has imposed limits on how much money candidates can receive from each individual donor. Those limits were repealed by a law that took effect Jan. 1, and more than 160 candidates quickly responded by accepting large contributions.

The Supreme Court reinstated the contribution limits July 19. It said the repeal language was linked during the legislative process to a separate section found to be unconstitutional.

The court said generally that its ruling should apply retroactively. But it left it to the ethics commission to decide whether particular candidates should be exempt from the refunds because they had relied on the law in place at the time and because refunding the money now would pose a hardship.

The ethics commission is treating the court-ordered refunds as it would other cases alleging campaign finance violations. Commission director Robert Connor cites a state law requiring hearings to be closed when the panel determines as a result of an internal audit that a violation may have occurred.

Donnelly claims the ethics commission is stretching what the law states. She argues the hardship hearings are merely an outgrowth of the court ruling -- not the result of a campaign finance complaint or investigation -- and thus not subject to the law closing them to the public.

Her lawsuit asks a Cole County circuit judge to issue an injunction barring the Ethics Commission from holding the hearings in secret. She claims the closed hearings are a "blatant violation" of the Sunshine Law.

"Voters deserve to have access to these proceedings, and candidates for public office shouldn't be allowed to hide behind closed doors," Donnelly said.

Connor declined to comment on the lawsuit.

All of Missouri's candidates for statewide offices already have returned their excess contributions or pledged to do so.

Most notably, Republican Gov. Matt Blunt is refunding almost $4.5 million in large contributions received while the limits were temporarily lifted. Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon, who is challenging Blunt in next year's election, is returning more than $1.3 million in over-the-limit contributions.

Dempsey said his situation differs from that of most other candidates, who received the large contributions well in advance of the 2008 elections. Dempsey said he already had spent a considerable amount of that money campaigning for the Sept. 4 special election by the time the Supreme Court decision came down in mid-July.