Ethics reform eyed

Missouri legislators consider limits on campaign donations

By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The easy part is over. So says state Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, who chairs a House committee charged with ethics reform.

Fourteen bills proposed in the House thus far have been heard by the Special Standing Committee on Accountability and Ethics Reform, said Wilson, who was named to the post by House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin.

Now the bipartisan panel will start crafting its own proposal “based on the ideas we’ve heard and anything else we think needs to be addressed,” Wilson said.

Ethics reform was named a top priority by legislative leadership when the Missouri House and Senate convened last month.

As the session opened, several lawmakers from both parties were being sentenced or investigated for ethical misdeeds, including former House Speaker Rod Jetton. In Jetton’s case, investigators are looking into a link between campaign donations and the demise of a bill that would have imposed new taxes and regulations on sexually oriented businesses.

Watching indictments and investigations unfold, Wilson said, means that in one sense “the system works.”

But it isn’t building trust with voters.

“There is a general loss of faith in the process of government. People may trust their own representatives, they don’t trust the system — but we are all the system,” Wilson said. “I told the committee the first day, we have a unique opportunity to make substantive changes and restore public trust. It’s incumbent on us to seize that opportunity.”

Both Richard and House minority leader State Rep. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, praised the committee.

“With the quality of the people on that committee, and the quality of the chairman, I have every confidence they’ll come up with something fair and equitable,” Richard said.

LeVota said Wilson “has worked to make sure the committee hears all the different ideas.”

Ethical issues

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon also has called for “meaningful” ethics reform. Proposals put forth by him and by others who testified before the special committee include:

n Reinstating campaign contribution limits that were removed in Missouri in 2008.

n Setting limits on when lawmakers and their staff members can become lobbyists after leaving office.

n Giving more power to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

n Making some ethics violations subject to criminal prosecution.

n Eliminating legislative committee-to-committee transfers of contributions.

n Prohibiting an officeholder from taking money under the guise of “political consulting” during office as well as for a reasonable time after leaving office.

n Prohibiting legislators from serving as registered lobbyists of the legislative branch for a reasonable period after they leave office.

LeVota is sponsor of one of the bills that would reinstate contribution limits. Setting limits, he argues, “is the only way to reinstate real ethics reform.

“There are just too many questions if these big campaign contributions are influencing the movement of legislation. We need to remove that, all the way,” he said.

He noted campaign limits were approved by Missouri voters by nearly a 75 percent majority in 1994. Missouri contribution limits ended when the legislature passed and former Gov. Matt Blunt signed a bill lifting caps and replacing it with a requirement that campaign donations of at least $5,000 be reported electronically within 48 hours.

‘Frank and open’

Wilson said there seems to be general agreement on a provision that would bar members of the Missouri General Assembly from also working as political consultants or fundraisers for other lawmakers — a practice of former House Speaker Jetton.

Wilson also said there has been “a lot of talk” among committee members about contribution limits and transparency.

“There is a lot of common ground, but it’s going to be a matter of finding out where that is,” he said. “My hope is there will be frank and open discussion, with everyone laying their cards on the table and saying what they’re for or against.”

In addition to lawmakers, Wilson’s committee also has heard from lobbyists and private citizens “with a good cross-section of comments.

“Not surprising, we’ve had very few testifying against the bills. We’ve had some opposition, but not much, because no one wants to go on record opposing ethics reform,” he said.

Richard said he has set no preconditions on work by the committee and intends to support whatever the panel drafts. He also said everything is on the table, including reinstating contribution limits, though he said he sees no problem with large contributions “as long as everything is transparent.”

“I think it’s a First Amendment right,” he said, “and I think the ruling that just came out of the (U.S.) Supreme Court ratifies that.”

Joplin donors

Reinstating contribution limits would affect some local donors, including the Humphreys family, which gave more than $1.7 million to state Republican candidates, groups and committees in 2008, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

David Humphreys is the president of Joplin-based Tamko, but the more than $660,000 he gave to GOP candidates was given by him and not the company.

David Humphreys ranked seventh among the largest donors to candidates for the 2008 campaign statewide. Adding in donations by family members Ethelmae Humphreys, Sara Humphreys Atkins and Debra Humphreys would bring total donations just to candidates to $1,260,400 in 2008 in Missouri, and brings the family’s ranking to first, topping donations by the Democrat and Republican Governor’s Associations, the Republican State Leadership Committee and the Missouri Democratic Party.

Richard received two Humphreys’ family contributions totaling $7,500 in 2008. But larger amounts from the family went to statewide races, with nearly $600,000 going to the campaigns of Kenny Hulshof, for governor, and Peter Kinder, for lieutenant governor.

Humphreys did not respond to questions about the purpose of his contributions, or about whether there is a link between contributions and favorable legislation.

Edwin Bender, executive director of the National Institute in Money on State Politics, said the level of contributions made by the Humphreys “is not the norm, but it’s not all that unusual.

‘Obvious impact’

“Even at the federal level, you will have a fraction of donors giving 70 to 80 percent of the money,” he said. “When you’re giving tens of thousands, to say nothing of millions, there’s going to be an obvious impact on the political process, and people bowing to their desires. That’s the way politics works,” Bender said.

The Humphreys gave their contributions as individuals, but Leggett & Platt Inc., based in Carthage, gives primarily as a corporation.

The firm contributed a total of $158,150 during the last complete state election cycle, according to followthemoney.org, the Web site of the National Institute on Money in State Politics. All contributions went to Republicans, according to those records, and included candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and attorney general. More than 30 candidates for various state representative and Senate positions also received money.

Leggett & Platt gave $65,000 to the Missouri Republican Party and $27,500 to the House Republican Campaign Committee of Missouri for the 2008 election, according to followthemoney.org.

A number of Leggett & Platt employees as individuals gave a total of $8,425.

The Hershewe Law Firm of Joplin gave a total of $127,350 during the 2008 election, nearly all of which went to Democrats, according to followthemoney.org.

Democrat Jay Nixon accounted for $75,000 of that amount, followed by $50,000 for Chris Koster, the Democratic candidate for attorney general. The firm provided $1,350 and $1,000 to failed Democratic Senate candidate Chuck Graham and failed Republican gubernatorial hopeful Sarah Steelman, respectively.

Globe attempts to reach spokesmen from Leggett & Platt and the Hershewe firm also were unsuccessful.



Limits proposed

Contribution limits being debated range from $1,250 to $3,000 for state candidates, $1,500 to $650 for state Senate candidates, and $350 to $750 for state representative candidates.

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