CASHING IN: STATE LAWMAKERS SPENT MILLIONS TO GET ELECTED

The winning candidates in the 1996 Missouri House and Senate races received more than $5.5 million in campaign contributions.

The money helped those candidates cash in on victory in the November 1996 election.

The 17 winners in Senate races raised $1.72 million. On the House side, $3.85 million was contributed to 162 of the 163 winning candidates, a study by a pro-business group shows.

The other candidate, Rep. Louis Ford, D-St. Louis, didn't report a single contribution in winning re-election in 1996, campaign finance reports show. Ford ran unopposed.

In all, 15 Republicans and 16 Democrats ran unopposed for House seats in 1996. Two senators, both Democrats, ran unopposed.

The pro-business organization, Missouri Businesses United or MoBiz, analyzed the campaign finance reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission and classified contributions by a dozen categories, including business and labor.

Chris Long is secretary-treasurer of MoBiz and president of an affiliated group, Associated Industries of Missouri. The latter organization represents some 1,500 businesses.

Long said the goal of MoBiz is to elect more pro-business candidates to the Legislature.

To that end, Long said, the organization tries to inform employers regarding winning candidates' campaign contributions.

State lawmakers readily promise to help the business sector when they talk to the voters. But in Jefferson City, they don't always vote that way, Long said.

Democrats hold a slim majority in the Legislature.

"On the leadership level and committee level, it is still very difficult for business to advance its issues," he said.

Trial lawyers and organized labor are big supporters of many of the top legislative leaders in the House and Senate, Long said.

Most Southeast Missouri lawmakers are strong supporters of business interests, Long said.

"You have a very strong Republican contingent and, at the same time, a very conservative Democratic contingent who has a good feel on business issues and act on them when they are in Jefferson City," he said.

Business groups gave a combined $145,000 to the successful re-election efforts of 12 state lawmakers in Southeast Missouri in 1996.

One of those lawmakers was Rep. Donald Prost, D-Caruthersville. He resigned last January to take a staff job with the General Assembly.

State Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, raised $121,962. That ranked sixth among winning state Senate candidates.

In contested races, winning Senate candidates raised $114,534, on average.

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, received $112,473 for his campaign, ranking him eighth on the money-raising list.

He started the campaign with a $3,817 fund balance. After winning the election, he still had $25,644 in his campaign fund.

The top money raiser was state Sen. Jim Mathewson, D-Sedalia, who held the top leadership post in the Senate in 1996. Mathewson raised more than $229,000 for his campaign that year.

On the House side, Rep. Mark Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, raised $70,647, the most of any Southeast Missouri lawmaker.

Statewide, the average winning candidate for a contested House seat raised $26,362 in the 1996 election.

At the time, Richardson was the highest ranking Republican leader in the House. He resigned as House minority floor leader last April following his arrest on drunk-driving charges.

Richardson said his House leadership position helped him raise money.

Richardson said Democrats targeted him for defeat and poured a lot of money into his opponent's campaign. Richardson said that forced him to raise more money too.

In contrast, Richardson spent about $35,000 to win election to the House in 1990.

"Campaigns are becoming more and more expensive," he said. "That is just a fact of life."

Richardson said the cost of newspaper, radio and television advertising has gone up, as has the cost of sending campaign literature to the voters through direct mail.

"It seems like you are always trying to raise money for re-election," he said.

Kinder said he raised less money for his 1996 re-election campaign than he did in winning election to the Senate in 1992.

By the time all the bills were paid, campaign expenses totaled about $200,000, Kinder recalled. "I went to Jefferson City in January 1993 about $40,000 in debt."

Kinder defeated former state Rep. Betty Hearnes in 1992. Kinder said he had to spend more money to come out on top against Hearnes, who had the advantage of being a well-known, veteran politician.

The Missouri Alliance for Campaign Reform wants to scrap the current system and replace it with publicly funded campaigns.

The coalition is pushing for a voluntary system that allows candidates to receive state funding if they don't take special-interest money and private contributions.

But Kinder said public financing would amount to "food stamps for politicians."

He doesn't believe candidates should receive public financing or that there should be limits on how much people can give.

Under Missouri law, a contributor can't give more than $1,000 to a Senate candidate or more than $500 to a House candidate in an election year.

"It makes it harder for candidates, who have to spend all their time on the phone dialing for dollars and begging for money," Kinder said.

"The answer to money in politics is full disclosure," he said.

New requirements that will post campaign finance reports on the Internet should help, Kinder said.

The Cape Girardeau Republican said he plans to introduce legislation that would require a candidate to disclose all contributions within 48 hours of receiving them.