Fake it to the limit, one more time...

Dave Helling over at kc buzz blog reports that the City Council is trying to throw one by the voters with a supposed campaign contribution limit ordinance. I love the "Whereas's" at the beginning of this one. What they said: "WHEREAS, the City Council hereby finds that preserving integrity and openness in the political process is a matter of the highest public interest" What they didn't say: "and therefore seeks to figure out a way around it." What they said: " WHEREAS, it is the policy of the City to promote and encourage broad-based citizen involvement in the financing of election campaigns" What they didn't say: "and by broad-based we mean big time contributors and PACs who think $1000 is pocket change." What they said: I KID YOU NOT: " WHEREAS, the City council further finds that regulation of campaign contributions is required because the costs of running political campaigns have reached levels that lead to a public perception that special interests and wealthy individuals may have undue influence on or access to elected officials" What they didn't say: "and we understand that the public perception in this case is 100% accurate." Here's the deal. The Missouri laws on contribution limits end on January 1, 2007. Theoretically this means that all bets are off and one wealthy individual or PAC could put as much money as they want into any candidate's campaign. So on the surface it looks like the council is being responsible and taking up the mantle of campaign finance reform. Ahh, but wait! The council is setting limits of $2000 for mayor, $1500 for at-large council and $750 for in-district council. What are the current limits you ask? $1275 for both mayor and at-large candidates and $325 for us lowly in-district candidates. What this means is if the council has their way, there will be a free-for-all after January 1st with all the big-money candidates going back to their large contributors and getting them to buck up to the max. The council is actually raising the limits! This doesn't affect me very much. I have set a maximum amount of money I intend to raise. I am not making that figure public yet, but it's less than half of what two of my opponents already have in the bank. I think the sums being reported for some of these state and local races are obscene. If I can't win this election on issues and good old-fashioned hard work then I have little hope for the future of Kansas City government. If the council is serious about campaign finance reform, why not impose spending limits? Put a ceiling on the dollars and make the candidates actually campaign instead of fundraise. But that's just me...