“People who have more money should be free to buy more cars, more homes, more vacations, and more gizmos than the rest of us. They should not be able to buy more democracy." -Bill Moyers  
 
   
 
 

For Immediate Release:        December 1, 2004

CAMPAIGN FINANCE PROPOSALS WOULD LEGALIZE SCANDALOUS PRACTICES

In response to recent scandals surrounding the highest echelons of Ohio’s political leadership, the Legislature is considering several changes to the state’s campaign finance laws.  Instead of taking the public’s demands for reform seriously, some legislators are using them as an excuse to gut some of the state’s most important safeguards against the corrupting influence of big money in politics, according to testimony presented this week to the House State Government Committee by political watchdog TheRestofUs.org.

“The highest levels of political leadership in Ohio have been abusing and flaunting the state laws which were designed to level the playing field so that the voices of all Ohioans might be heard in the political process,” said Ned Wigglesworth, analyst for TheRestofUs.org.  “Instead of improving the laws, some legislative and party leaders are suggesting that the very laws which their political friends were breaking should be repealed,” he continued.  “What next?  Tax breaks for people who cheat on their taxes?”

Ohio’s ban on corporate contributions, in existence for nearly a century, recognizes that corporations are granted legal privileges which enable them to amass financial clout generally unavailable to the rest of us and that allowing them to use this clout to dominate the political process would drown out the voices of all but a few of the wealthiest Ohio citizens.  And yet, the current House Bill 214 would open the floodgates to corporations to spend money directly from their treasuries to influence Ohio elections.

Like many states, Ohio places a limit on the amount an individual can give to candidates, political parties, and political committees, again in order to level the playing field so that the voices of all Ohioans might be heard in the political process.  Party leaders and legislators alike have suggested ending these limits, again opening the floodgates to wealthy elites to spend unlimited sums from their fortunes on influencing Ohio elections.

“Ohioans shouldn’t fall for proposals masquerading as reforms,” said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestfUs.org.  “If politicians continue to respond to the public outcry for reform by setting back the clock to the days of robber barons and Tammany Hall, the people of Ohio will need to speak up and let their elected officials know they’re not going to stand for it.”

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TheRestofUs.org is a nonpartisan political watchdog dedicated to alerting citizens to the problems of big money in politics.