Editorial: Inaction on campaign cash
November’s gubernatorial campaign set a record as the most expensive in Virginia history. The two major-party candidates combined to raise at least $138 million, according to data compiled by the invaluable Virginia Public Access Project.
That’s nearly double the $71 million raised by the major candidates in 2017 and nearly triple the $48 million raised for gubernatorial campaigns in 2001. And it’s a record that will surely fall in the 2025 election unless Virginia does something to reform its notoriously weak regulation of campaign cash.
That won’t happen this year. The House and Senate in recent weeks struck down thoughtful and modest limits on political donations and how that money can be used. What one lawmaker called “the Wild West” of campaign finance in Virginia will continue.
That’s as disappointing as it is unsurprising. Virginia lawmakers have long resisted calls to reform campaign financing and move the commonwealth away from a reliance on disclosure and transparency toward limits on donations and the use of that money.
Consider the facts, courtesy of August reporting by the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
“Virginia is one of 10 states with no contribution limits on individual donors to political candidates and one of just five with no limits on contributions by corporations. It is one of 18 states with no restrictions on state party committees’ ability to contribute money to a candidate’s campaign. Virginia also is one of 10 states that allow political action committees to contribute unlimited amounts of money to candidates.”
Virginia is different from other states in that it believes that finance reporting will provide the sort of oversight needed to effectively regulate the system. But there are few consequences to inaccurate or tardy reporting, and it has done little to slow the influx of cash to state races.
That unique approach, and its many perils, was spelled out in an investigative series by Daily Press reporter Dave Ress in 2014, “The Virginia Way: Politics, Power and Profit.” It was published on the heels of former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s conviction on public corruption charges and, despite being more than seven years old, still holds true.
It was thought that the McDonnell case would change things, even though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction. But after making little more than cosmetic changes, lawmakers quickly resumed business as usual in Richmond.
Of course, state legislators still make a big show of how they want to regulate donations and rein in campaign spending. But when it comes time to vote, they’re perfectly content to keep the system unchanged.
Case in point: This year the General Assembly considered measures that would ban campaign donations by Dominion Energy and another that would prohibit donations by any public utility. Other bills would have established limits on donations in general, aimed at making campaigns more affordable and inviting more people into the process.
All were worthy reform initiatives and all met with defeat, including one to end the use of campaign funding for personal expenses — which passed the House last year. This year, with a different party in control, the House punted.
Not that one party is to blame. Clearly this is a systematic failure, one that will take more public pressure to repair.
Until then, perhaps Virginians should look on the bright side.
Having trouble making rent or paying off that mortgage? Just run for office. Trying to cobble together some extra money for that dream vacation? Time to file that candidate paperwork. Are country club dues blowing a hole in the family budget? Launch a campaign.
Sounds ridiculous, right? And yet, in the commonwealth, that’s all perfectly legal.
Virginia lawmakers shouldn’t wonder why trust in government has plummeted in recent years, not when they refuse modest, workable and popular recommendations for repairing a campaign finance system that fails to inspire public confidence.
