Campaign finance reform considered by lawmakers

April 30, 2001

Campaign finance reform considered by lawmakers
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission has joined a coalition in calling for full and timely disclosure of campaign contributions.
___Requiring full disclosure of contributors is "a simple, straightforward step" toward truth and openness in government, according to Susan Paynter, director of citizenship education and public policy with the Christian Life Commission.
___Paynter participated in an April 25 news conference in Austin to call for strengthened campaign finance regulation--particularly a requirement that candidates list the employer and occupation of any contributor giving more than $200.
___HB2 and its companion legislation, SB6, as introduced would have addressed many key campaign reform provisions. But several provisions were struck down on the House floor.
___As amended, the bill no longer requires the listing of employer and occupation for each contributor, limiting the ability of citizens to determine how many representatives of a particular industry or special interest are contributing to a specific individual.
___The bill's author, Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, called the removal of that provision "a giant step backward."
___The Christian Life Commission has joined about 40 member organizations in the Open Campaigns Coalition to urge that the provision for full disclosure of contributors by employment and occupation be restored to HB2. The legislation soon will be addressed by a House/ Senate conference committee.
___Many candidates in the last general election claimed to support the measure. The 2000 platforms of both the Texas Democratic and Republican parties called for full disclosure of the amounts and sources of campaign contributions, and Gov. Rick Perry voiced support for the provision .
___"Elected officials ... all say they favor full and timely disclosure. Well, if they really favored it, we'd already have it," said Fred Lewis, president of Campaigns for People, a leader in the Open Campaigns Coalition.
___Lewis, former deputy chief for consumer protection in the Texas attorney general's office, recently spoke to the Christian Life Commission and its board of consultants.
___"We should not require elected officials to be saints. We need to set up a system in which average people are pushed in the direction of doing good things," Lewis told the group.
___The current system, however, lends itself to abuse and grossly favors incumbency. Through the redistricting process, incumbents "get to choose their own voters," Lewis noted.
___Because incumbents also enjoy benefits in terms of fund raising, many races are left uncontested. "Money scares off challengers," Lewis said. Ninety percent of all dollars contributed to campaigns are gifts of $1,000 or greater, limiting influence only to very wealthy individuals with great discretionary income. On average, 80 percent of the contributions come from non-constituents.
___Texas law prohibits lawmakers from taking contributions during the legislative session or 30 days prior to the session. But it is not unusual for special interests who "backed the wrong candidate in the election" to make significant gifts to a newly elected official immediately after the general election.
___"There appear to be a lot of philosophical conversions in that 30-day window between the election and the 30 days before the legislative session," Lewis quipped.

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