House amends, passes Senate campaign finance bill
The House amended, then passed a Senate campaign-finance reform bill after brief debate on Tuesday, with House leaders saying they're hopeful the Senate will agree to the compromise and send it on to the governor.
The House inserted some of the language from its own campaign finance reform bill authored by Speaker Philip Gunn, then passed it back to the Senate on a 102-12 vote. Both bills would restrict politicians' use of campaign donations for personal expenses, a practice that is restricted or banned in most states and by the federal government. The Senate Elections Committee had stripped all the House language from the House bill and inserted its own.
"I'm interested in passing some campaign finance reform this year," said House Rules Chairman Jason White, R-West, who said the Senate bill would be the vehicle to get it done. "We need to get this done ... (the House bill) is on the cutting room floor."
The House — after killing campaign finance reform last year — early in this legislative session passed the measure authored by Gunn on a vote of 104-12.
A special Clarion-Ledger report last year, "Public Office/Private Gain," showed how the state's lax laws and lack of enforcement have created a tax-free second income for many Mississippi politicians, funded by special interests. Experts and political observers have called Mississippi's lack of rules and transparency on campaign money — and allowing it to be used for personal expenses — "a recipe for ethical disaster" and "legalized bribery," with special-interest money making its way into politicians' pockets after it runs through their campaign accounts. Campaign money is shielded from tax, ethics, bribery and other laws because it is ostensibly to be used for campaigning and records of it are supposed to be open to the public.
The House on Tuesday reinserted a provision to require politicians to itemize campaign expenditures on credit cards. Law currently requires candidates to itemize any expenditures of $200 or more. But many politicians have sidestepped this requirement by using a credit card to make purchases, and reporting only the payment to the credit card company on their campaign reports.
The House also changed the Senate bill to have the state Ethics Commission oversee and enforce campaign finance regulations. The Senate version had less enforcement teeth and left most oversight with the secretary of state's office. Enforcement of Mississippi's current lax campaign finance rules has been nearly nonexistent. Gunn said the appointed Ethics Commission is a better fit to regulate campaign finances than any elected official's office.
Campaign finance then, now, future
The House left much of the Senate's particulars on what constitutes personal use of campaign money intact, and left a "grandfather clause" that the restrictions would apply only to campaign donations received after Jan. 1, 2018.
White said he had communicated with some Senate leadership officials and hopes the compromise can pass the House without amendment and further negotiations.
Senate Elections Chairwoman Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, author of the Senate bill, said she had not seen the House changes, so she's uncertain whether more negotiations and work would be needed.
Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter .
