Photo by mediaslaveYesterday, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie’s (D-Ward 5) campaign finance reform bill was heard by a D.C. Council panel for the first time, before it goes to a final vote in November.
Two years in the making, McDuffie’s bill proposes rules that would tighten D.C.’s campaign finance laws, prohibiting candidates from accepting maximum campaign contributions from both individuals and the corporations they own. From McDuffie:
Among the significant reforms in the legislation is the closure of the “LLC loophole,” which historically has enabled limited liability companies to make campaign contributions well in excess of individual limits. McDuffie’s bill subjects all related businesses, including corporate subsidiaries and LLCs with shared owners, to a single contribution.
The bill would also cap money order donations at $100, mandate training for campaign treasurers, and grant “the Attorney General jurisdiction to prosecute misdemeanor campaign finance violations,” according to a release. It would also require the Office of Campaign Finance to publish fundraising data, “in fully sortable and downloadable form,” within 24 hours of receiving it.
While the bill would certainly put a hurt on the machine that is the corruption of D.C. politics, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) thinks the legislation could be tighter.
In a press release, Wells said that “there is no reason any D.C. mayoral candidate should accept a campaign donation that isn’t from an individual.” Anything less, Wells says, “is to betray the public trust already damaged by the shadow campaigns and scandals that continue to plague the city.”
At yesterday’s hearing, McDuffie acknowledged that, while his campaign finance reform bill is a step in the right direction, it isn’t the perfect solution for the longstanding history of scandal in D.C. politics. During the hearing, the Councilmembers on the panel, including Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) and David Catania (I-At Large), all raised concerns about McDuffie’s bill, specifically that the measures to close the LLC loophole aren’t strong enough. Bowser also believed the $100 limit for cash and money-order donations is too high. But ultimately they supported the bill.
Currently, Wells boasts that he is the only mayoral candidate running on a “clean money campaign” by “refusing all contributions from PACs, corporations and LLCs,” and has called on fellow candidates Bowser and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) to follow suit.
A spokesperson for Wells’ office told DCist that he is “looking at a couple of potential amendments” for McDuffie’s bill.
