Attorney General TJ Donovan and Secretary of State James Condos announced Monday the formation of the Committee on Campaign Finance Education, Compliance and Reform.
They said the committee’s purpose is to look for ways to reduce confusion candidates and parties have over the rules, identify shortcomings in the campaign finance laws, improve disclosure rules and consider whether reforms are needed.
Donovan and Condos, both Democrats, would like to see a reversal of Citizens United, the controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision that has allowed more money to flow into political campaigns. However, the committee focus is more on improving disclosure while accepting that Citizens United is likely to stay.
The four initial members of the committee are representatives of the Democratic, Republican and Progressive parties and a member of the attorney general’s office.
The committee includes attorney Brady Toensing, vice chair of the state Republican Party. He has filed several complaints alleging campaign finance violations, including claims against Donovan’s predecessor, William Sorrell.
The other members so far are Jake Perkinson, also an attorney with campaign finance experience and the former chair of the Vermont Democratic Party; Josh Wronski, executive director of the state Progressive Party; and Natalie Silver from the attorney general’s office. More members will be added later.
Although pushing to overturn Citizens United is not the goal, the decision is “the 800-pound elephant in the room” that provided the undercurrent for Donovan’s suggestion to form the committee, according to Condos.
“After the Citizens United decision, the rules of the game changed dramatically, and there is a strong consensus that we want to prevent Vermont’s campaign finance apparatus from being abused or ignored,” Donovan said. “We need to ensure that our system is as robust as it can be in meeting the real-world challenges of the current political environment.”
Donovan said the goal is “not to replace Citizens United but to coexist with it.”
Condos recalled Vermont’s past efforts to control campaign contributions and spending were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2006, the court held that a Vermont law imposing limits on spending was unconstitutional. In that case, Randall v. Sorrell, the court also struck down Vermont’s contribution limits as unconstitutionally low.
“Court decisions over the last 15-20 years have left us with transparency and disclosure as the basic means of knowing who is financing our elections. It is important that the public has the ability to see who has contributed to which candidates,” Condos said.
“Campaign finance has had a rough life in the court system,” he added.
The secretary of state said transparency had been greatly improved with candidates now required to file reports online. But he said there is confusion about who should be filing. One goal of the committee, Condos said, would be to find areas where the law can be made clearer and “in the gray areas make the lines brighter.”
The committee plans to reach out to elected officials, activists, PACs and voters and hold a series of public forums to help guide its direction.
Condos said only minor changes might be put forth this year and that the bulk of any recommendations will come next year.
A major purpose of forming the committee, Condos said, is to improve compliance. Donovan said a lot of the rules are confusing and complicated.
“As secretary of state my focus has been to encourage compliance through education rather than the threat of punishment. I believe the work of this committee will provide an opportunity to improve education on, and compliance with, Vermont’s campaign finance laws,” Condos said.
Donovan noted their respective roles. “He’s the compliance guy. I’m the enforcement guy. We should be working together,” he said in an interview.
