MONTPELIER, Vt.—Still trying to fashion a campaign finance law more than 18 months after a previous one was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, a House committee spent Thursday wrestling with a bill passed by the state Senate last week.
Much of the testimony before the House Government Operations Committee concerned the view by supporters of the latest bill that it would be "defensible" in court, versus those worried that Vermont could end up again on the losing end of another expensive lawsuit.
In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that a 1997 Vermont law setting tight caps on the donations to -- and spending by -- campaigns for state office was unconstitutional.
Vermont's 1997 law placed a $300,000 spending cap on gubernatorial candidates, and lesser limits for other state elections. Contributions were limited to as little as $200 per election cycle for state House races.
The court found that Vermont failed to show it had such a culture of money corrupting politics that it warranted the toughest-in-the-nation limits.
The Legislature responded to the court ruling with a new campaign finance bill last year designed to address what the justices saw as flaws in the 1997 law. Gov. Jim Douglas vetoed it, saying the new version was still too restrictive and that he feared it would prompt another lawsuit.
Lawmakers have vowed to try again this year and have been speeding a new bill through the legislative process in hopes of having it in place before the 2008 state campaigns gear up.
The latest version would set looser limits than the 1997 bill.
Instead of a $200 cap on contributions per election cycle to House candidates, the cap would be $250 each for the primary and general election. Individuals could give a Senate candidate up to $500 each in the primary and general election. The cap on donations for candidates for governor would be $1,000.
One point of contention between lawmakers and Douglas: the limit on contributions to candidates for other statewide offices. The bill would set it at $750; Douglas wants it even with gubernatorial candidates at $1,000.
Candidates for offices ranging from secretary of state to attorney general "have to cover the same geographic area and reach out to the same voters" as candidates for governor, Dennise Casey, Douglas' secretary of civil and military affairs, said in an interview Thursday.
Douglas also objects to the limits the bill would place on the contributions political parties could make to candidates -- $30,000 for governor, under the bill. He has said he wouldn't mind such a limit on contributions by national parties, but believes there should be no limits for state parties.
The bill could end up being fodder for a veto showdown if lawmakers don't make the changes Douglas is seeking. The Democrats who control the House fell one vote short of overturning Douglas' veto of last year's bill during a special session in July -- and three of their party's members were absent that day.
