March 08, 2005
Repealing Ohio House Bill 1
Law breakers write laws?
By Ashish Budev
Guest Columnist
Would you buy a book by Michael Jackson on childcare? How about “The Enron Guide to Accounting”? If these sound like good ideas to you, then you’ll love Ohio ’s new campaign finance law.
In recent years, the Ohio GOP’s funding tactics have teetered on the edge of legality, using a legal shell game to circumvent contribution limits established by the McCain-Feingold law. It is clear the GOP has violated the spirit of the law, if not the law itself. Consider that the IRS, FBI and the Secretary of State are all investigating top Republicans, including ringmaster and House Speaker Larry Householder.
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The resulting criticism and bad press created pressure for reform. So Gov. Bob Taft called an emergency legislative session just before Christmas, and the state legislature hastily passed a “reform” bill at the end of 2004. The problem is the new law was crafted by the same people being investigated for breaking the old law. Hence, the Michael Jackson and Enron analogies. The new law is not all bad. One positive aspect is the increased disclosure requirements for donors. But even these may not be strict enough. Ohio Citizen Action has recommended more complete disclosure about donors’ employers to better track individual contributions from the same employer. And there are questions about the timeliness of disclosure; it doesn’t do much good to know who gave what if you can’t find out until after the election. State Senators Eric Fingerhut and Marc Dann have written an alternate reform bill, which addresses that issue.
LAW FAVORS SPECIAL INTERESTS
The bill’s most infamous provision is the 300 percent increase in the individual contribution limit from $2,500 to $10,000. It’s easy to see who benefits from that. Unfortunately, there is no balancing provision to increase the “free speech” of the 99 percent of Ohioans whose eyes pop at the thought of forking over ten grand. |
But that’s just one part of the bill. There’s more:
The bill also prohibits corporations, unions, and PACs from buying TV and radio time within 30 days of an election. But wealthy donors (or candidates) can spend unlimited money. As long as the money comes out of a personal account, it’s legal. There is talk that this part of the bill may not pass the test of constitutionality, but at this point, it’s only talk. Furthermore, the real test is not only one of constitutionality, but also how effectively the GOP has stacked the judiciary with corporate-friendly judges. ( Ohio is no exception to this national GOP effort.)
Also gone are unions abilities to use a portion of their dues for political causes. Now they have to set up a PAC and solicit and disclose employee contributions. There is no balancing provision requiring shareholder consent for the transfer of corporate profits to PACs.
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The essence of this bill is clear: it was written by lobbyists to wither the power of the working poor and middle class while increasing the influence of corporations and wealthy individuals. And this in a state that lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs – tops in the country. It’s hard to imagine Ohio will lure better jobs with this bill.
As an example of how this law tilts the balance in favor of the wealthy, consider this: a husband and wife can give $10,000 each in the primary and general election and $30,000 each to the state party fund, for a total of $100,000. Furthermore, if their children are at least 7 years old, they can also contribute. So, one wealthy individual who is married and has two kids can give $200,000 per election cycle from his family. And don’t be too sure this family won’t do that in every election; a recent Republican National Committee memo on fundraising cited “habit” as the number one reason for contributions. |
THE REPEAL EFFORT
Now that the bill has been passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Taft, it is set to become law at the end of March. The only way to prevent this is to collect enough petition signatures by March 20 for a ballot referendum in November. Because the deadline is fast approaching, speed is critical.
In southwest Ohio , several progressive and Democratic groups are collaborating to move the petition drive forward including Democracy for Cincinnati , The Progressive Alliance of Southwest Ohio, The Democratic Forum, and the Hamilton County Democratic Party. These groups join the statewide effort begun by the Ohio AFL-CIO, American Friends Service Committee, United Auto Workers, and Ohio Farmers Union .
It is worth reiterating that there is an alternative reform bill which shores up the loopholes remaining in this one. So repealing this bill does not repeal reform; in fact, it allows for true reform to take place.
"The Podium" is Queen City Forum Magazine's opinion page. Guest writers and staff writers offer their take on social, political and life issues.
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