Parties find ways around rules limiting contributions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- During the recent election cycle, a rookie legislative candidate commented, tongue only partially in cheek, that despite extensive experience in the financial sector, he never learned a thing about money laundering until he ran for public office.

What he is referring to isn't illegal or necessarily even deceptive. It just describes how both major political parties have found ways to bypass state laws that limit individual contributions to candidates.

However, officials with both parties say the limits still serve the purpose of curtailing the influence individual donors have on candidates.

The Missouri Ethics Commission adjusts the legal caps on donations each election cycle. Those currently in place limit contributors to giving $1,175 to statewide candidates, $575 to state Senate hopefuls and $300 to those seeking seats in the state House of Representatives.

Two of the main tactics used to maximize the amounts that find their way to candidates are:

Unlimited soft money contributions to political parties.

Hard money donations to candidates with little or no opposition who in turn distribute funds to more needy colleagues.

Lawyers' money

One constituency of the Missouri Democratic Party provides a prime example of the former, though the state Republican Party also gets its fair share of soft money.

During the three months before the November elections, various trial lawyers gave more than $1.7 million combined to various state Democratic organizations. Unlike individual candidates, party groups can accept unlimited amounts.

One St. Louis law firm gave a total of $125,000 to three different Democratic groups during the general election. Two other firms, one based in St. Louis and the other in Kansas City, each contributed $75,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Committee in the last two weeks before the election.

While parties use some of this revenue for their own expenses and for efforts aimed at benefiting their candidates as a group, some of it is funneled to individual candidates.

Parties are restricted in what they can give candidates, but the limit is roughly 10 times what an individual can give. A state representative candidate, for example, can accept $2,925 from a party committee. However, both parties have numerous committees, and all can give to the limit.

Missouri Democratic Party executive director Mike Kelley noted that the parties control how soft money contributions are spent. Donors may not specify that the funds go to certain candidates.

"In no way can you conspire to hand that money to specific candidates," Kelley said. "That is against the law."

In all cases, contributions and expenditures are still reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Limits serve purpose

Kelley said the limits, even if they do encourage soft money, serve a purpose. For example, he said, a $50,000 contribution to a party is spread around to various candidates. Such a contribution to an individual candidate might be all the funding that candidate needed, creating the appearance that the donor had the politician in his pocket.

Kelley said there are flaws in the current system, but the state's campaign finance laws work overall.

"The answer is not to eliminate the law. The answer is keep people from getting around the law," Kelley said. "We need to examine how to enforce the law to its truest spirit."

House Speaker-elect Catherine Hanaway's prowess in raising the money to help engineer the Republican takeover of the lower chamber typifies the other main method around the contribution limits.

Between the two committees she personally controlled -- one for her re-election to the House and the other for her bid for speaker -- Hanaway, of Warson Woods, raised more than $346,300 during the general election. Of that amount, she distributed $66,400 to fellow Republican office seekers.

Though not all of the money went to GOP House candidates, by way of illustration it would equal roughly 221 donations meeting the $300 cap.

Hanaway's efforts are just one example from among the scores of candidates from both parties who raised money well in excess of what they personally required for their campaigns in order to filter it to those who needed it.

While the Missouri Republican Party fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Missouri's donation limits, it was ultimately unsuccessful. Party spokesman Scott Baker said those involved with state politics have learned to live with the limits, even if they do sometimes push the envelope.

"Everything is on the up-and-up, but you do have to be creative sometimes to stay within the legal parameters," Baker said.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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