Here's The Inquirer editorial on the board of ethics, and the state Supreme Court ruling on the city campaign finance law; it will be on the printed page tomorrow (Thursday).
The new, independent Philadelphia Board of Ethics lived up to its promise this week, bravely putting muscle behind the city's campaign-finance rules. At the same time, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wisely postponed a challenge to the donor limits until after the May 15 primary. The court’s decision Tuesday means there will be no return to no-holds-barred fund-raising by candidates for mayor and City Council. As the election watchdog group Committee of Seventy noted, the campaign limits are “a critical safeguard against a return to the city’s time-honored pay-to-play culture.” The ethics board this week required U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) to refund more than $56,000 in campaign funds. That sends the right signal about complying with the law.
In support of his run for mayor, Fattah erred in using more than $36,000 raised outside the donor limits prior to his campaign launch in November. He also has to return a $20,000 donation from an individual — far in excess of the city’s $5,000 annual limit. (Political committees can give no more than $20,000 to any one candidate.)
These are dollars the Fattah campaign hates to lose, given that it lags in fund-raising. So the ethics board’s action has some teeth; it’s a warning to other candidates to live within the donation limits.
(Yes, in this race, millionaire Tom Knox has end-run the limits, buying his way to the top of the polls using his own money. This rare worst-case scenario shows that no campaign finance system is foolproof, but this one is still superior to the previous, corrupt, anything-goes atmosphere.)
Fattah’s fund-raising prior to declaring his candidacy formally highlighted a shortcoming in the city’s campaign finance law. That is, unannounced candidates are permitted by the city law to raise unlimited funds to pay for such things as amassing get-out-the-vote mailing lists and policy papers.
]A better approach would be to adhere to the Pennsylvania election code rule that says a candidacy is considered official once fund-raising starts.
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