Posted on: Tuesday, April 13, 2004

EDITORIAL
Time has come to fix campaign finance

State lawmakers concerned about their political reputation and voter unhappiness with the legislative process have a chance to do something powerful in the waning days of the current session.

Two important bills designed to reform the campaign financing process remain alive and under consideration.

One, if not both, should be passed this year.

It has long been argued that "reforming" campaign financing is a losing proposition. Close one loophole and another opens.

That may be true. But to accept this logic as a reason to avoid even trying to make changes is cynical and defeatist.

It's true that any reform measure will tend to dilute the advantage held by incumbents, so naturally those in office are not keen to make changes. But incumbents will retain advantages no matter what laws are passed.

The key is to send a sincere signal that there is a desire to cut the nexus between campaign contributions and government favors.

Toward that end, proposals to prohibit direct contributions from unions and corporations make an important start. This is not groundbreaking reform; the federal government already prohibits such contributions.

But the Hawai'i Legislature has an opportunity to go further, banning contributions outright from government contractors or, alternatively, barring the award of contracts to those who have been recently active as contributors.

This would help eliminate the appearance, if not the reality, of the idea that contracts are awarded to those who give generously to sitting office-holders.

The other proposal, public financing, is a bit trickier. It would set up a program that could eventually eliminate all private financing of state House campaigns.

To begin, it would offer complete public financing to up to three candidates in each House district race.

In effect, it is a modification of the current law, which offers some public money to candidates for any office who agree to spending limits.

The public financing idea is intriguing, but it might work better at the start as a pilot program in selected districts where every candidate would receive public money in exchange for agreeing to strict spending rules.

The public has had it up to here with campaign financing funny business. The Campaign Spending Commission has assessed more than $1 million in fines over the past two years for illegal gifts.

That's beyond reason. The time has come to fix our campaign spending system and fix it right.