Every election cycle candidates willfully or mistakenly violate campaign finance laws.
The most recent example may be Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.
Political watchdog group Common Cause of Maryland says Democrat Smith did not return excess campaign contributions. It raised the issue after noting his campaign sent no refund checks this election cycle based on records in an online database. The group complained Monday to state prosecutor James Cabezas about the issue.
Campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford provided documents that reconciled most discrepancies noted by Common Cause and said he would examine the rest.
Good for Common Cause for holding Smith accountable. If he returned over-contributions an average of 10 months after he received them as the group asserts, the money amounts to an interest-free loan.
Whether it?s willful malfeasance or sloppy accounting, it should make voters question why he would handle the finances of Baltimore County any differently.
However, the bigger issue is onerous campaign finance laws that limit donations and force campaigns to spend time policing donations instead of figuring out the best way to use them. Maryland law says a person can not give more than “$4,000 to one campaign finance entity, and a total of $10,000 to all campaign finance entities, during the four-year cycle.”
Donating to federal candidates requires following different laws.
The limits force candidates to spend a ton of time fundraising instead of campaigning in order to raise enough money to buy media. A few of the state?s markets rank as some of the most expensive in the country. Limiting donations also benefits incumbents, who win free media attention by being in office, and the wealthy, who can finance their own campaigns.
And limiting funds to candidates does not limit corruption. It just funnels money to where it can not as easily be tracked and can be used for shadier purposes, as the recent Jack Abramoff scandal attests. The once-powerful lobbyist pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion, charges which included bribing or attempting to bribe members of Congress.
Instead of limiting funds to candidates, why not make them post contributions online in an easily searchable database within 24 hours? That way every citizen can check to see who is financing campaigns and judge for themselves if a person or group is “buying influence.” State legislators must take up this issue when they return in January.
We don?t need less money, we need more sunshine.
