Sunday, May 28, 2006

News-Leader: Blunt should veto campaign finance bill

Add the Springfield News-Leader editorial board to the ever-increasing number of voices urging Governor Matt Blunt to veto the recently-passed campaign finance bill.
To quote a few paragraphs from today's editorial:

"This is a bad bill that took a campaign finance system in need of reform and did one thing: It hung a 'for sale' sign on the back door of the state Capitol.

"Legislators had bipartisan support to reduce the ability for lobbyists to hide their contributions to politicians by giving instead to caucuses, groups of legislators who have some loose connection. They did that.

"But erasing campaign giving limits brings no additional transparency to the process when there is still a way for donors to hide the path of their giving. In getting rid of campaign limits while also allowing unlimited in-kind donations from political committees, they pointed donors to the back door of the Capitol and mapped out the future of elections in Missouri."

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