Thursday, January 08, 2009
Editorial: Showdown over campaign donations
Brian Moran knows he's outgunned in the Democratic primary, so he's trying to disarm his opponents.
From the RoundTable blog
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Chris OBrion | The Roanoke Times
The year is 1880 and Quickdraw Moran is the fastest gun for a hundred miles. When challengers show up, Quickdraw sends them running home or worse. He has respect, power and limitless horizons.
Then, one day, Billy the Kid rides into town. Quickdraw might have the fastest gun around those parts, but Billy, well he has the fastest gun in the West, and he calls Quickdraw out.
On the dusty street through town, a few minutes before high noon, Quickdraw looks for a way out. Squinting at the Kid, he pitches an idea, "We don't need to duel with guns, do we? How about knives?"
So it goes with former Virginia Del. Brian Moran. For years, he has accepted campaign contributions from outside Virginia, but suddenly he faces someone who is even better at raking in the cash.
Moran wants to be governor, but first he needs the Democratic nomination. When only state Sen. Creigh Deeds was running against him, he figured his odds were good.
Then, as 2008 wound down, Terry McAuliffe entered the race. The former Democratic National Committee chairman and Clinton crony is Billy the Kid to Moran's national fundraising skills.
So last week, Moran challenged his opponents not to accept contributions from outside Virginia. "It should not be an election about who can raise more money from national donors," he said. "Virginia Democrats should choose our nominee."
In other words, how about knives?
Moran isn't worried about the taint of outside money, just that McAuliffe is better at raising it. Before McAuliffe rode into town, Moran had no qualms about accepting contributions from national donors.
From 2006 to 2008, dozens of people, companies and organizations from outside Virginia each gave at least $1,000 to Moran, more than $200,000 total. They came from as far as Washington state and California and as close as Maryland and the District of Columbia. The Moran for Governor committee alone received more than $75,000 in 2008.
If he didn't like Virginia's campaign finance rules, Moran had more than a decade in the General Assembly to do something about them. Instead, he enjoyed them until he was outgunned.
