Sunday, April 29, 2007
Editorial: Make campaign finance reports immediate
If disclosure is all Virginians get in a wide-open campaign finance system, make it accurate and timely.
From the RoundTable blog
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With all 140 seats up for grabs and a large number of open seats, this year's General Assembly elections are going to cost a lot of money. Which means lawmakers and candidates are going to have to raise a lot of money.
Virginia law makes that relatively easy. Unlike most other states, Virginia imposes no cap on how much a single donor can give. Corporations are also allowed to donate to campaigns.
So while candidates in Florida, for instance, have to raise $500 at a time from individuals, Virginia politicians can hit up donors for $10,000 checks -- or more.
In exchange for such liberal rules, candidates are asked only one thing: disclosure. Any donation over $100 has to be reported.
In an election year, candidates must file eight reports.
The theory seems to be that such disclosure somehow mitigates any corrupting influence of unlimited financial contributions.
In other words, it's OK for special interests to buy politicians, as long as the public knows who's doing the buying.
Major changes to Virginia's campaign finance system don't appear likely. The system, after all, works well for the lawmakers who would have to change it.
But there are a couple of incremental reforms that should be possible.
First, the General Assembly should pass a long-stalled bill that would subject campaign finance reports to random audits. Currently, there is no check on whether the reports are complete and factual.
The legislature has repeatedly killed a bill to require the Board of Elections to randomly select 10 percent of the races and audit all of the candidates in those races.
Second, disclosure should be immediate. There is no reason the law couldn't require donations to be reported and published online the day they are received.
With current technology, an immediate reporting requirement would not have to be burdensome.
If full disclosure is all the people of Virginia are going to get, it should at the very least be timely and accurate.
