Editorial writers, crusading columnists and reformers say it all the time:
Illinois is one of only a small handful of states which does not regulate
campaign contributions.
That’s technically true, but you might be surprised at how little some other states
actually regulate those contributions.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s independent reform commission has recommended that Illinois adopt the same
basic contribution limits for individuals and political action committees as
the federal government. But if contribution limits are supposed to get the
influence of money out of politics, they’ve failed miserably in Washington, D.C., where money has become an obsession and
that obsession rules all.
According to a March analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures,
some states have few campaign contribution restrictions at all. Still others
have much more stringent caps than proposed by the governor’s reform commission.
For instance, neighboring Iowa has no limit on individual contributions to
candidates and doesn’t cap state party contributions, political action committee contributions or
labor union contributions to candidates. However, Iowa does prohibit direct
contributions by corporations. Here is a rundown of some other states.
• Texas, Pennsylvania and North Dakota prohibit direct corporate and union
contributions to candidates, but have zero limits on any other contributions.
• Indiana restricts contributions by corporations and unions to $5,000 per year
for statewide candidates and $2,000 per year for all other candidates.
Individual, political action committee and state party contributions are not
limited, however. Mississippi and Alabama have similar restrictions.
• Ohio limits individual and PAC contributions to a somewhat odd $11,395.56 per
candidate, per election, while capping state party contributions to $642,709.58
for statewide candidates, $128,200.05 for state Senate candidates and
$63,815.14 for state House candidates. Corporate and labor union contributions
are prohibited.
• According to the NCSL report, a total of 13 states have no caps whatsoever on
individual contributions. Even more have no limits on state party
contributions, although some states, like Kentucky, require that candidates
other than gubernatorial candidates accept no more than half of their money
from the state parties. Kansas is one of a small number of states which
severely restricts state party contributions during primaries, but imposes no
limit on general election spending.
• California’s contribution limits are much higher than the proposed federal-style limits
here in Illinois, perhaps reflecting its large numbers of big media markets and
the fact that limits are indexed to inflation. California caps individual,
union and corporate contributions at $25,900 for gubernatorial candidates,
$6,500 for other statewide candidates and $3,900 for legislative candidates.
PAC contributions are roughly double those limits.
• Florida, another large state with multiple TV markets, has a $500
across-the-board limit on campaign contributions from all sources. But recent
local reporting has shown how easy it is for special interests to get around
those caps via “electioneering communications organizations.” One example was an alleged scheme by Anheuser Busch to bankroll favored
candidates via a police union fund.
• The state of New York uses a mathematical formula to limit individual, PAC and
union gubernatorial campaign contributions. The formula is based on the number
of party members. New York also has a $100,000 limit on family member
contributions to legislative candidates. State party contributions to
candidates are prohibited in primaries, and unlimited in general elections.
Corporations are limited to $5,000 per year in aggregate.
• Michigan prohibits all corporate and union campaign contributions and has very
low caps for all other contributions. Statewide candidate contributions are
limited to $3,400 for individuals and many PACs per election cycle. Senate
candidate contributions are capped at $1,000 and House contributions are
limited to just $500. “Independent” campaign committees have much higher caps.
As you can plainly see, the range of limits is far broader than we are ever
told. This issue is not as black and white as it’s usually portrayed. I actually favor contribution caps, but they should either
be extremely low with lots of safeguards (unlike Florida) to really stamp out
the money, or high enough that every check doesn’t become an obsession. Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno has
proposed a $10,000 cap on individuals and PACs. That seems reasonable to me.
Rich Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2009.
