State Campaign Reform Called Ineffective Despite Law Curbing Spending, Study Shows Costs Are Rising
A 4-year-old law designed to reduce overall spending on political campaigns in Washington state hasn’t lived up to its intent, a political watchdog group says.
A study released Thursday by Washington Citizen Action says spending on political campaigns is rising in spite of Initiative 134, a campaign-finance reform measure passed overwhelmingly by voters in 1992. It also concludes that the initiative has resulted in less disclosure about key contributors to state races.
“This year’s elections could be bought in large part with hidden contributions and most voters would have no idea where the money was coming from,” said David West, executive director of Washington Citizen Action, a citizen organization that claims more than 50,000 members in the state.
The study, which cost about $6,000-$7,000, was done for Washington Citizen Action by the Institute for Washington’s Future, an independent organization that does public-policy and other research.
At news conferences in Seattle and Olympia, West and Tom Barnard of the institute said that overall campaign spending, particularly for legislative elections, has risen because of increased spending by political action committees, party committees and new “independent expenditure committees” created by PACs.
Initiative 134 limited direct contributions from individuals and groups to $2,200 per candidate for statewide office and to $1,100 per legislative candidate. It set no limits on gifts to political parties.
The Public Disclosure Commission reported that average spending on legislative races fell from $13.48 million in 1992 to $10.53 million in 1994.
But West and Barnard said these figures only represent spending by the candidate’s campaign itself and doesn’t include spending by other organizations, such as PACs and political parties, that have indirectly spent money on candidates.
West and Barnard cited one of the state’s largest PACs, United for Washington, as an example. Although UFW’s direct contributions to candidates have dropped, its total spending has increased, they said. Office costs are higher, political consultants are now hired directly for “message development” work, and independent expenditure committees, paid for by UFW, are serving as auxiliary campaigns to candidates who used to receive larger donations directly from PACs, they said.
Bruce Boram, executive director of UFW, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.
Barnard said his report wouldn’t have been necessary if I-134 were working.
“A lot of this research, a lot this information was essentially underground. It was in the PDC but in order to get it out, dig through it, sift through it and figure out what it actually means, I had to do a lot of work,” Barnard said. “My view is that if the reforms functioned the way they were supposed to, I wouldn’t have to be doing this.”
Initiative 134 was championed by, among others, Linda Smith, then a Republican state senator from Clark County, who saw it as a way to take money out of politics. Now a U.S. representative, Smith has also worked on campaign-finance reform in Congress.
Stephen Daniels-Brown, Smith’s communications director, said Smith hasn’t seen the Washington Citizen Action report.
“I think she feels I-134 is accomplishing the spirit of what she was attempting to do, which is to separate votes from money while the Legislature was in session.” he said.
Daniels-Brown said Smith continues to be concerned about independent expenditures and potential loopholes to campaign spending limits.
xxxx RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE STUDY A study financed by Washington Citizen Action recommends legislative action to address “hidden” political campaign contributions. The recommendations include: Requiring political action committees and independent committees to allocate all their expenses, including consultants and polling, to candidates they are supporting in their disclosure reports filed with the Public Disclosure Commission. If mailings, phone calls or ads are paid by an umbrella PAC, the top five contributors to those PACs should be disclosed to voters receiving the information. Requiring political consultants to register with the PDC and report who their clients and candidates are. Strengthening the ability of the PDC to audit independent expenditures.