
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995                   TAG: 9502230031
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAMPAIGN FINANCES

THE 1995 General Assembly, dubbed the killing fields by Capitol wags, is likely to be remembered for little besides its stunning repudiation of Gov. Allen's legislative agenda and the partisan snarling this has engendered.

Still, it would be nice if lawmakers took at least one positive action before adjourning later this month. Among the better opportunities for doing so is a campaign-finance reform bill that has passed the Senate and is now pending in a House committee.

Sponsored by Fairfax Sen. Joseph Gartlan, the measure is a far cry from the far-reaching campaign-finance reform that is needed. It does not, for instance, make any provision for voluntary public financing of political campaigns. Nor does it impose any limits on campaign spending. Nor does it tighten campaign-finance disclosure rules, require independent audits of accounts or tend to other nuts-and-bolts improvements recommended by a bipartisan Commission on Finance Reform two years ago.

But Gartlan's bill is not insignificant. It would impose caps on contributions that a candidate for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general or the General Assembly can collect from any single individual or political-action committee. It would thereby end the sky's-the-limit status quo, rife with opportunities for corruption, in which Virginia political candidates can be bought (or at least rented) by a few megabuck contributors with special interests in government actions and outcomes.

This reform is long overdue. The federal government and most states already cap the amounts individuals and groups can give to one candidate. And the proposed restrictions in Gartlan's bill are, if anything, too generous. For statewide office-seekers, the cap on gifts from individuals would be $10,000 ($5,000 before the nomination; $5,000 after); the cap on PAC gifts, $20,000. The limits would be $4,000 and $2,000 for Senate and House candidates respectively. Exemptions also are provided for certain circumstances.

The measure, in other words, would not strap candidates. But it would constitute at least a small repair in a bum system that now gives high rollers access to and influence with elected officials that ordinary citizens don't enjoy, a system that sets a degrading gimme-gimme standard allowing candidates to put the squeeze on contributors. As it is, too many Virginia politicians are spending too much time in the pockets of a wealthy few.

by CNB