New Campaign Finance Law to Change Local Elections?

A new campaign finance law will take affect next year on January 1, having implications on fundraising for local races. Currently the limits per contributor are $325 for an aldermanic race and $1,275 for a city-wide race such as the President of the Board of Aldermen. Say you have a couple wanting to give big to an aldermanic candidate. Each of the couple can give $325 and if they have a business set up that business can also give $325. That gets us up to $975 for each election cycle. The primary and general election are each a cycle so a donor could max out at $1,950 (two persons + one business). The more businesses they have set up the more than can give. If they want to give more they donate to the party committee which can then give the money to the same candidate.

Come January 1, 2007 that all changes. The limits are gone. This same couple with a company can write a $1,000, $10,000 or $100,000 check to an aldermanic candidate if they like — they don’t even have to split it up to make it appear as if it came from various sources. Of course, this must all get reported. Some donors will still want to give to a party committee which can then distribute money to a candidate. Interestingly, the candidate can control the party committee. So Mr. Jones wants to give $5,000 to Ald. Smith but really doesn’t want to be that blatant can give a few checks over time to the ward party committee totaling $5,000. If the Ald. controls the committee, such as having their spouse be one of the committee people, they can then elect to have the party committee donate $5,000 to the candidate’s committee. To look up who is funding such a campaign we’d need to look at more places to source the money. The party committee can also support a candidate by printing signs or other things on their behalf although I this must be reported by the candidate committee as an “in-kind” contribution. Candidates cannot have direct control over a PAC that contributes to their campaign but these PACs can be run by friends, another way to funnel unlimited funds into campaigns.

So how will this impact local races next year? Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman, blogging about a possible run by Ald. Lewis Reed for the President of the Board of Alderman, thinks it would take only “a few hefty checks to become a serious candidate” under the new law. True enough. Would Mayor Slay or Mike McMillan funnel some of their campaign cash Reed’s way? One thing is certain, we will see some bigger numbers on campaign reports this coming Spring.

For a good background on campaign limits in Missouri read, “Show me the money, but at what price?” Also, St. Louis Oracle did an outstanding analysis of the new law back in May of this year.

For those planning a run in the March primary or April general elections now is the time to begin your fundraising. Watch the limits before the new year but then go for it. I hope we will see some of the big money in this region looking to finance change, not more of the same. And by change I don’t mean corporations buying candidates to create legislation to favor their own special interests. We will know in April how this worked out.