Campaign finance reform is a step forward

By Charlie Shields and Tom Dempsey

The current Missouri Legislature inherited ethics laws and a system for reporting contributions that need to be updated. Today's contribution caps have failed to control the cost of elections at all levels.

In spite of a $1,275 limit on donations to candiates for statewide office, a governor's race can typically cost millions of dollars. Even more alarming, more than $34 million was funneled in 2004 to political parties and legislative committees in Missouri. Yet no one seems to know where these incredible amounts of money are coming from.

Every Missourian has the right to know how much money candidates are raising and what the sources of the funds are. In our most recent legislative session, Republicans and Democrats voted together to remove limits on campaign contributions through an amendment offered by state Sen. Tim Green, D-St. Louis. The purpose of the measure, House Bill 1900, is to bring transparency to campaign financing, not to line the campaign accounts of politicians.

Removing the contribution limits, which will not take effect until 2007, will greatly diminish the role of the third-party committees through which money is now channeled. These committees currently engage in a legal form of money laundering. Millions of dollars are donated to these committtes and directed to specific candidates, all behind the scenes. If the new bill is signed by Gov. Matt Blunt, candidates will be held accountable by the public, their opponents and the media when they accept contributions of any amount because the money must be given to them directly.

Some opponents of the new bill have complained about a perceived loophole that would allow existing committees to continue supporting candidates through the use of in-kind donations. But the transparency put in place by ending the caps on campaign contribution limits will help prevent candidates from exploiting anything, including in-kind donations.

If a candidate who now can raise an unlimited amount of money chooses, instead, to finance most of his campaign through in-kind donations to political-party committees, the media and public will know.

The voters' right to know is the key to creating a campaign environment in which the idea of candidates being bought by contributors will disappear. A "for sale" sign has not been put on the capitol. The new law would give voters and the media the most important tool needed to determine the true character of a candidate: transparency. The public's right to know who gives money to candidates is our first priority.

The candidate will be held accountable for taking large sums from people, companies or organizations of which their constituents may not approve. They will also be held accountable for accepting in-kind donations at the same time that they have a campaign account funded with unlimited contributions.

People believe -- and they are right -- that a lot of money moves around and changes hands in the days before an election. The new bill would require candidates to file full disclosure reports electronically, which would end delays in getting the information to the State Ethics Commission's public Web site. During the 12 days leading up to an election, the new bill would require candidates to file campaign money reports every day, listing any donations or expenses more than $250. This will let the public follow the movement of money and see almost instantly where campaign donations are coming from - rather than reading about it after they've cast their votes.

Candidates also would be banned from accepting contributions while the Legislature is in session from January to May each year. The measure would eliminate candidate leadership funds and put an end to caucus spending, which totaled more than $300,000 last year.

This bill passed because it is a step in the right direction toward reining in the legal forms of campaign money laundering and hidden transactions that plague our elections today.

Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, is majority floor leader of the Missouri Senate. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, is majority floor leader of the Missouri House of Representatives.