Missourians have a right to know who is influencing whom

By Timothy P. Green

In response to the April 28 article "Legal laundering," it is commonplace for political committee treasurers to receive requests or suggestions of where to send contributions and the contribution amount. It is as commonplace as mothers telling their children to phone when they arrive home safely.

The whisper of Missouri voters' voices can't compete with the bellow of influential big money-donor special interests. The people of Missouri know that politicians are being influenced by campaign contributions, and the voters have the right to know who is doing the influencing. Missouri needs additional transparency in campaigns.

Special interests can contribute unlimited donations to third-party committees, which can then spend the money on behalf of candidates. From 2000 to 2004, third-party committees spent and contributed more than $158 million.

When the legislature placed limits on contributions to candidates, we thought we were going to curtail the amount of money flowing into political campaigns, but we just poured gasoline onto a burning fire. Honesty demands full disclosure, and that disclosure is the only way Missouri can restore integrity to our campaigns.

Consider: The Republican 18th Legislative District Committee connected to the Republican House majority floor leader, state Rep. Tom Dempsey, received $100,030 in January 2006 and spent $88,750 during that reporting period. Some $5,500 of the $100,000 came from the 2nd Senatorial District Republican Committee. The 18th Legislative District Committee then funneled $6,650 to other legislative committees, including giving $2,050 back to the 2nd Senatorial District Committee.

Dempsey, as majority floor leader, controls and decides which bills will go to the House floor. This legal money-funneling, which provides zero accountability and zero transparency, must end.

By eliminating the caps placed on candidate campaign committees and placing them on third-party committees, the public would be able to find out exactly who spends what on whom. Campaign-finance limits cannot end political corruption, but at least with transparency, the people will know who is influencing who and why certain interests are rewarded.

Currently, it is difficult for people to find out what third-party committees spend on individual candidates. If those committees were placed under limits, the money would flow directly to the individual candidate committees, where the public could easily view the contributions and hold politicians accountable.

Timothy P. Green of St. Louis represents the 13th District in the Missouri Senate.