Missouri Supreme Court restores campaign finance limits

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court reinstated campaign contribution limits Thursday, but it's unclear whether politicians will be forced to return millions of dollars they have collected since the limits were lifted in January.

The court, in a unanimous decision, overturned a lower judge who had thrown out a fundraising ban for elected officials and challengers during the legislative session but kept intact the overall repeal of Missouri's individual contribution limits.

The Supreme Court said the legislative history of the bill indicated lawmakers would not have repealed contribution limits if the donation blackout period was not in effect.

The court noted that when the measure was debated by the Senate, it considered -- and rejected -- an amendment that would have allowed unlimited contributions without a blackout period.

"That the two provisions were inseparably connected and dependent upon each other is conclusively proven by the fact that the Senate amendment to decouple the provisions failed," the Supreme Court said Thursday in an opinion written by Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.

Jefferson City attorney Chuck Hatfield, who challenged the law on behalf of a legislative candidate, said the court did the right thing.

"This was the goal. This is how government's supposed to work," he said. "The judiciary is supposed to step in if the Legislature exceeds its boundaries."

But Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields, who helped handle the legislation, said the court was wrong to presume that the issues were tied together.

"To me they are two independent issues," said Shields, R-St. Joseph. "The reason we took off contribution limits was all about transparency. Under the old law you had money flowing through different committees. It was hard to follow the money. The reason we did the blackout during session was just to remove the air of impropriety."