ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512230001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
WHEW! Be glad the cost of state government isn't rising like the cost of state politics is.
If taxes and spending had doubled in four years, imagine the outcry. Virginians would be marching on Richmond, demanding that lawmakers impose limits on what's raised, demanding that spending be brought under control. ``Enough's enough!'' bumper stickers would grace every car and truck.
Expect no such passionate protest over the $20.5 million raised and spent by candidates for Virginia's legislature this year - roughly twice the amount spent in 1991 when all 140 legislative seats were last up for grabs.
To be sure, runaway campaign spending directly affects the pocketbooks only of those who choose to contribute, in contrast with the legal requirement to ante up state taxes. The soaring cost of campaigns won't get the dander up of most Virginians.
But it should concern every one. The trend hastens the day when, as a practical matter, only independently wealthy individuals or those willing to sell their souls to big-money contributors will dare run for the legislature.
Already, because candidates depend increasingly on special-interest contributions, a chasm between average citizens and their elected representatives is deepening. Well-heeled special interests plainly have built toll bridges of access that ordinary citizens can't always cross.
The record-busting $20 million spent this year is, of course, partially the result of the increased competitiveness of Virginia's two-party system. That's to be welcomed.
Politicians are quick to point out, too, that costs of media ads have skyrocketed. Direct mail, polling, phone-bank operations and the full array of newfangled campaign techniques and technology don't come cheap, either. And these days it seems even candidates for dog-catcher feel the need to hire pricey political consultants and spinmeisters.
State lawmakers offer nearly as many excuses as to why they haven't passed campaign-finance reforms. Here's a doozy: Some contributors will find ways to skirt the law.
Why, of course. Limits on the amounts that individuals, corporations or political-action committees can give to any one candidate can be gotten around. If a contributor is determined to pump six-figure donations into a campaign, donations could be made in the names of spouses, parents, children, co-workers or pets.
Fuller disclosure requirements and audits of campaign-finance reports could, however, stem that practice.
As important, gift caps would allow contributors to resist pressure from candidates to give more, more, more. Now, with absolutely no limits on contributions in Virginia, there's nothing to stop the occasional political squeeze play. Meanwhile, knowledge that some people will circumvent laws hasn't stopped legislators from passing thousands of them.
The 1996 General Assembly should impose reasonable contribution limits. Some form of voluntary public financing of campaigns also is needed to put ordinary citizens' interests on a par with the special interests.
Such reform would help restore a level of sanity to a system wherein many legislative candidates this year spent $100,000 and upward to win part-time jobs paying $18,000. It might also help revive public confidence in a political system now loaded with cash - too much cash.
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