Candidates must release more information concerning credit card bills

In another victory for open government, the Missouri Ethics Commission has ruled that detailed information on credit card bills must be provided on campaign finance reports:

The interpretation, which had been requested on behalf of Republican Gov. Matt Blunt, means that Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon will have to start releasing more credit card details for his gubernatorial campaign.

Blunt and Nixon are expected to face each other in the November 2008 governor's race.

Blunt's campaign has attached the details of its credit card bills to his campaign finance reports. But Nixon's campaign has listed only the amounts paid to credit card companies, not what each of those bills included.

In an advisory opinion dated Nov. 9, the Ethics Commission essentially said that campaigns must treat credit card bills as they would cash expenditures.

State law requires expenses of more than $100 to be itemized on finance reports. So if a hypothetical credit card bill for $200 included a $150 hotel charge and several other smaller amounts, the hotel charge would have to be reported in detail while the other items could be categorized in general as going to food, or parking or whatever.