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Baby Steps Toward Campaign Finance Reform

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Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Del. Marcus Simon
Photo credit: Bob Brown/AP

By Dick Hall-Sizemore

Virginia law prohibits a candidate for public office from converting “excess” campaign funds to her personal use when closing out her campaign finance account. However, there is nothing to prevent a candidate from using campaign funds for personal, non-campaign related, purposes during a campaign.

Ever since his first General Assembly session (2014), Del. Marcus Simon, D-Falls Church, has introduced legislation to prohibit any personal use of campaign funds. Year after year, the bill died, with no recorded vote, until the 2019 session, when subcommittee votes were required to be recorded. That year, the bill died, 4-3, in subcommittee, with the four votes against it cast by Republicans. Last year, the bill was carried over again.

He is having much better success this year.  HB 1952 passed the House by a vote of 100-0. (Such strong support makes one wonder why the bill had such difficulties in previous years.) It recently cleared the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on a vote of 11-2. The “no” votes were cast by Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, and Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg. According to press reports, McDougle objected to the vagueness of what would constitute “personal use.” He thought the legislation should spell out specifically what would be prohibited uses, rather than authorizing the State Board of Elections to develop regulations on the implementation of the provisions.

The historic resistance to such commonsense legislation is one of the factors that have led to much cynicism regarding Virginia legislators and campaign finances.

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41 responses to “Baby Steps Toward Campaign Finance Reform”

  1. Eric the Half a Troll Avatar
    Eric the Half a Troll

    “The historic Republican resistance to such commonsense legislation is one of the factors that have led to much cynicism regarding Virginia legislators and campaign finances.”

    Fixed it for you…

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Wow, maybe a handful of years of GOP control since Reconstruction and all the ethics problems are on one side. Even you can’t really think that, Half-Wit Troll. That was a knowing and major cheap shot on Dick’s part but I let it slide. Who has stopped reforms in the past two years?

      1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        I was just reporting the facts of recent history. Folks will make of this history what they will.

        However, if we want to go back further into partisan history, I will admit that Democrats in the past have not been all that anxious to restrict campaign financing and that what reforms were made occurred under pressure. In point of fact, the provision prohibiting the conversion of excess funds to personal use was first enacted in legislation sponsored by Dave Albo, Republican of Fairfax. I don’t remember, if I ever knew, but there was probably some egregious incident that prompted that legislation.

        1. Steve Haner Avatar
          Steve Haner

          Thanks for the near retraction….

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I have no doubt what-so-ever that both Dems and GOP play the game.

        I also have no doubt that the devil is in the actual enforcement.

        Laws don’t mean nothing unless there is enforcement and I don’t have a clear idea of how effective enforcement is done – and I go back to why someone would or would not report to SBE/VPAP in the first place.

        It looks a lot like an “honor” system to me.

        And I worry that VPAP is more a fascade than reality since we really don’t seem to have much enforcement.

        It’s hard to believe that from year to – year there are no violations… no one caught doing what they ought not be doing.

        I don’t believe Virginia is really any more/or less “corrupt” than some other states but we simply don’t know because we really don’t seem to have much of an enforcement mechanism… that “REPORTS” what it has found (or not).

        1. Matt Hurt Avatar
          Matt Hurt

          As long as the palms stay greased and the favors keep flowing, it serves no one’s benefit in the know to blow any whistles.

        2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          VPAP has no jurisdiction over enforcement. It is a method of collecting and putting together the information reported to the Board of Elections. Otherwise, to get that information, the public would have to go to the Board’s offices and comb through the reports themselves.

          I don’t know the extent to which the Board of Elections reviews these reports or enforces omissions. I suspect that there are few resources for such activities and that compliance is basically voluntary. My sense, however, is that candidates and public officials take the requirements, as light as they may be, seriously and make good faith efforts to comply with the requirements.

  2. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Call me a cynic but methinks recorded votes are sometimes voted different than non-recorded votes!

    I’m curious about the mechanics of how money is actually moved from a donor to a legislator.

    How do we even know someone has given them money in the first place much less what they actually spent it on?

    What keeps someone just giving a wad of cash to a legislator on a visit to their home or office?

    How do we know?

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Yes, Larry, if they are crooks and take cash which is not reported, you won’t know unless they get ratted out or screw up. And even the IRS won’t turn them in as long as they report it on their taxes…The system depends on people being honest (or getting caught). Keep you up at night?

      Business donors have all their own financial constraints and reporting, so what usually happens now is a check in the mail. Or a check handed over at a fundraising event. Not cash. Plenty of in-kind too, and those may not all get reported.

      As “reforms” go this is a minor one. The donation limits bills are dead, and I never saw a bill to tighten lobbyist disclosure rules. Expect most to once again say the lobbyists worked on “all matters related to….” despite the call for specifics.

      Nothing wrong with this bill, but it will only operate on a “complaint” system so that is what some legislators worry about — handing a future opponent some hammer to use by filing a complaint by press release.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Doesn’t keep me up at night, but the whole thing has a bit of a farcical aspect to it in terms of “reporting”.

        If I’m a legislator and I get a check Mr. X for $10,000 how does anyone really know?

        This is really along the lines of what Dick has said in that money will flow. McDougal wants to specify what are personal expenses – in my mind – so he can litigate each one and end up with at least some “legal” ways but what prevents money going that path right now?

        Is there a law and penalty for receiving money and not reporting it?

        what makes it “illegal” or a legislator a “crook” for merely accepting money with no strings attached?

        So, call this ignorance on my part but I suspect I’m not alone but perhaps you and Dick know more specifics and appreciated.

        1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          There is a whole chapter in the Code of Virginia (Sections 24.2-945 through 24.2-953.5) setting out provisions that require the reporting of campaign donations and expenditures. There are penalties for failing to comply, but most of those penalties are civil fines.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Right. But how does it actually work? Who knows if a legislator receives money and neither the donor nor him/her “report” it?

            And money is not the only currency. Things like stock options and real estate are also proffered and it seems like unless a deep dive of their finances is undertaken, no one is the wiser?

            It just seems like any law or any rules comes down to how they are enforced… We can have Uber strict rules and laws but if there is no effective enforcement mechanism, it’s mostly all for show.

            What would EFFECTIVE enforcement look like?

          2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
            Dick Hall-Sizemore

            There would need to be extensive audits of campaign accounts of candidates as well as those of PACs. The possibility of criminal penalties might help enforcement, as well.

            One major problem, of course, is that any effective enforcement will occur after a campaign is over. There are requirements for periodic reports during a campaign, but the public has to wait until the campaign is over to know whether a candidate violated the campaign laws.

    2. Nancy_Naive Avatar
      Nancy_Naive

      https://apnews.com/article/4544ea9878388ccf500ccc1492b26d8d

      What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out come sighs, laughter, and dreams. -Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (18 Feb 1883-1957

      1. Steve Haner Avatar
        Steve Haner

        Other stuff comes out of some.

        1. Nancy_Naive Avatar
          Nancy_Naive

          Stay away from radishes then.

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Call me a cynic but methinks recorded votes are sometimes voted different than non-recorded votes!

    I’m curious about the mechanics of how money is actually moved from a donor to a legislator.

    How do we even know someone has given them money in the first place much less what they actually spent it on?

    What keeps someone just giving a wad of cash to a legislator on a visit to their home or office?

    How do we know?

  4. Eric the Half a Troll Avatar
    Eric the Half a Troll

    “The historic Republican resistance to such commonsense legislation is one of the factors that have led to much cynicism regarding Virginia legislators and campaign finances.”

    Fixed it for you…

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Wow, maybe a handful of years of GOP control since Reconstruction and all the ethics problems are on one side. Even you can’t really think that, Half-Wit Troll. That was a knowing and major cheap shot on Dick’s part but I let it slide. Who has stopped reforms in the past two years?

      1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
        Dick Hall-Sizemore

        I was just reporting the facts of recent history. Folks will make of this history what they will.

        However, if we want to go back further into partisan history, I will admit that Democrats in the past have not been all that anxious to restrict campaign financing and that what reforms were made occurred under pressure. In point of fact, the provision prohibiting the conversion of excess funds to personal use was first enacted in legislation sponsored by Dave Albo, Republican of Fairfax. I don’t remember, if I ever knew, but there was probably some egregious incident that prompted that legislation.

        1. Steve Haner Avatar
          Steve Haner

          Thanks for the near retraction….

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I have no doubt what-so-ever that both Dems and GOP play the game.

        I also have no doubt that the devil is in the actual enforcement.

        Laws don’t mean nothing unless there is enforcement and I don’t have a clear idea of how effective enforcement is done – and I go back to why someone would or would not report to SBE/VPAP in the first place.

        It looks a lot like an “honor” system to me.

        And I worry that VPAP is more a fascade than reality since we really don’t seem to have much enforcement.

        It’s hard to believe that from year to – year there are no violations… no one caught doing what they ought not be doing.

        I don’t believe Virginia is really any more/or less “corrupt” than some other states but we simply don’t know because we really don’t seem to have much of an enforcement mechanism… that “REPORTS” what it has found (or not).

        1. Matt Hurt Avatar
          Matt Hurt

          As long as the palms stay greased and the favors keep flowing, it serves no one’s benefit in the know to blow any whistles.

        2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          VPAP has no jurisdiction over enforcement. It is a method of collecting and putting together the information reported to the Board of Elections. Otherwise, to get that information, the public would have to go to the Board’s offices and comb through the reports themselves.

          I don’t know the extent to which the Board of Elections reviews these reports or enforces omissions. I suspect that there are few resources for such activities and that compliance is basically voluntary. My sense, however, is that candidates and public officials take the requirements, as light as they may be, seriously and make good faith efforts to comply with the requirements.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            And you are right and I ask , why does the Va SBE not, as part of it’s responsibility and mandate not do it’s responsibility in reporting and cause volunteers are VPAP act like hamsters in trying to get the info and put it in a form the public can understand?

            It’s outrageous! It’s a slap in the face of Virginia Citizens that a
            volunteer organization has to do this.

            GRUMP!

  5. TooManyTaxes Avatar
    TooManyTaxes

    This bill is laughable. It’s not even a baby step toward campaign finance reform. It’s the baby kicking her foot.

    No contributions from anything other than a human being who lives in Virginia. No corporate, labor union or nonprofit contributions. No PACs; no bundling of contributions. A candidate cannot accept contributions from anyone who resides outside the jurisdiction where the candidate is running for office. Statewide office allows contributions from anywhere the state. Candidate for offices with a smaller district boundary can accept contributions from anyplace within the district only. Put a reasonable limit on the amount of contributions and index it to inflation.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      I am not sure some of this would pass legal muster; for example, the prohibition on donations from anyone outside the jurisdiction in which someone is running for office.

      But, let’s put that quibble aside for the moment and assume all the restriction you propose were enacted. There still would be no way to keep individuals or organizations from conducting efforts on their own (ads, mailers, etc.) on behalf of candidates they support. Michael Bills, for example, could set up his own nonprofit foundation and campaign for people.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        My two cents. Every single money transaction needs to be disclosed or you risk a felony.

        Even better would be a requirement that every single donation goes through a 3rd party entity and not direct and if you take a direct payment, you will be charged with a felony.

        This needs to stop.

        This is why I support Citizen Initiative even if it risk some other undesirable things. It’s the only way to truly hold the GA folks accountable.

  6. TooManyTaxes Avatar
    TooManyTaxes

    This bill is laughable. It’s not even a baby step toward campaign finance reform. It’s the baby kicking her foot.

    No contributions from anything other than a human being who lives in Virginia. No corporate, labor union or nonprofit contributions. No PACs; no bundling of contributions. A candidate cannot accept contributions from anyone who resides outside the jurisdiction where the candidate is running for office. Statewide office allows contributions from anywhere the state. Candidate for offices with a smaller district boundary can accept contributions from anyplace within the district only. Put a reasonable limit on the amount of contributions and index it to inflation.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      I am not sure some of this would pass legal muster; for example, the prohibition on donations from anyone outside the jurisdiction in which someone is running for office.

      But, let’s put that quibble aside for the moment and assume all the restriction you propose were enacted. There still would be no way to keep individuals or organizations from conducting efforts on their own (ads, mailers, etc.) on behalf of candidates they support. Michael Bills, for example, could set up his own nonprofit foundation and campaign for people.

  7. Nancy_Naive Avatar
    Nancy_Naive

    Could be worse. Could be $90,000 in cash in the freezer. Or FBI dressed in kaftans with suitcases of cash.

  8. Nancy_Naive Avatar
    Nancy_Naive

    Could be worse. Could be $90,000 in cash in the freezer. Or FBI dressed in kaftans with suitcases of cash.

  9. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Campaign finance disclosure is a joke. It’s meant to satisfy the lowest level of voter thinking and inquiry.

    Look it up on VPAP – all is well… no need to worry about any other money.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Would you like to have no disclosure? What more would you want?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        “disclosure” is a joke. It’s purely voluntary without any real enforcement.

        What’s the penalty for choosing to not disclose?

        I’m not yelling at you Dick – I’m just outraged that this is what passes for campaign finance disclosure in Virginia.

        1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          It’s a hell of a lot better than it used to be.

        2. Nancy_Naive Avatar
          Nancy_Naive

          So are taxes, Larry. Well, less and less so, but 1040 is still very much a voluntary disclosure.

          The penalty for failing disclose is arbitrary. Depends on your choice of lawyer and how much you have to throw at it.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Yup. I know full well that any taxes that don’t have a tax document are essentially “voluntary” and there are quite a few .

            But I still that as different in my mind than being an elected representative and disclosing money received from others.

  10. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Campaign finance disclosure is a joke. It’s meant to satisfy the lowest level of voter thinking and inquiry.

    Look it up on VPAP – all is well… no need to worry about any other money.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Would you like to have no disclosure? What more would you want?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        “disclosure” is a joke. It’s purely voluntary without any real enforcement.

        What’s the penalty for choosing to not disclose?

        I’m not yelling at you Dick – I’m just outraged that this is what passes for campaign finance disclosure in Virginia.

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