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PrintJoe Carroll has been a busy guy.
Since Jan. 1, the director of campaign finance for the Missouri Ethics Commission said he has taken more than 100 calls from school board candidates, legislators and municipal candidates from all over the state.
They all ask the same question:
Is the rumor true?
Yes it is, Carroll tells them.
A bill passed in the final session of the Missouri General Assembly last year lifted all contribution limits to candidates in Missouri elections. The old maximum donation of $325 is gone. Any person or corporation can donate any amount of money to any candidate, and the Missouri Ethics Commission won’t blink.
“The legislature eliminated all contribution limits for anyone running for public office. Any public office. From the governor on down,” Carroll said.
The bill took effect on Jan. 1.
In Columbia, the first round of campaign finance disclosure forms, filed on Feb. 22, showed the City Council candidates had yet to attract any donor willing to give more than the previous $325 limit.
In fact, the total amount raised was relatively low. Jerry Wade, a candidate for the Fourth Ward seat being vacated by Jim Loveless, led all candidates with donations totaling $4,542. His opponent, Mike Holden, reported raising $2,496 during the early part of the campaign season.
In the Third Ward, candidate Karl Skala reported $1,535 in donations and candidate Gary Kespohl $1,174.
The mayoral election was particularly slow getting started.
John Clark didn’t form a campaign committee until after the reporting date, and incumbent Darwin Hindman reported one donation of $100.
But the pace is picking up.
Two weeks ago, Kespohl said he sent out 250 fundraising letters.
And it paid off, he said.
“On Monday, $3,700 came rolling in,” he said. “Tuesday, another $3,500. Wednesday was $1,000 more.”
The donations have mostly come in smaller amounts, Kespohl said. And that’s exactly the way he hopes it remains.
“I’m much happier to get the $50, $125, $150 donations,” he said. “Because I want the support of the people, not the support of a corporation.”
Wade said the lack of contribution limits came as a surprise when his treasurer, Duane Cramer, learned about it while researching finances earlier this year.
“Absolutely flabbergasted,” Wade said. “There is no limit. That’s just scary.”
The schedule for future campaign finance disclosure reports further complicates the issue, he said. The next time the committees are required to file is eight days before the election.
“If a contribution gets made in the days after that date, nothing’s known until after the election,” he said.
That means a candidate could spend money he didn’t have throughout a campaign, knowing that a big donation would be coming immediately before the election, Wade said.
“People need to know who’s paying for what,” he said. “Isn’t that information people should know about a candidate?”
Outgoing Third Ward Councilman Bob Hutton said the new rules could play a big role in the city election.
“You could have one big donor and have a hell of a lot of money,” he said. “It could have a big impact.”
In the past, Hutton said, his campaign budget has topped out around $3,000. But he said last year’s Sixth Ward election made it clear that Columbia politics is no longer limited to such small amounts.
Last year, Sixth Ward candidates Valerie Barnes and Barbara Hoppe raised around $35,000 between them.
Hoppe won the race, but the true impact of having raised and spent so much money was unclear, Hutton said.
“With more money, you can do more advertising, but that gets old after a while.”
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