Group Urges Standardized Reporting Requirements
By Shellie Branco
Bob Stern
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Campaign disclosure provisions vary from state to state, and from city to city, making it nearly impossible to standardize reporting requirements.
But Bob Stern, president of the nonprofit Center for Governmental Studies told a gathering of reporters at a Western Knight Center seminar on campaign finance that his organization is pushing for reforms that would make all jurisdictions adopt uniform disclosure standards.
California, Stern noted, is unique because it has a movie star as governor, leading to more media attention than most other states.
The Center for Governmental Studies is encouraging jurisdictions across the country to adopt the “10 most important” campaign financial disclosure provisions. Among them is electronic filing of campaign disclosure reports, which now is mandatory in fewer than half the states.
Another requirement Stern would like to see made mandatory in all jurisdictions is the disclosure of a contributor’s occupation and place of employment. Lack of this requirement has led to cases in which big contributors have used the names of students and the unemployed to report large contributions.
Stern noted that the city of San Diego has such a disclosure law, and it has resulted in 100 percent compliance by campaign committees.
“The City Council said if you don’t put down the employer and occupation, you don’t get a check,” he said.
Other reform provisions include disclosure thresholds for contributions and expenditures. Illustrating the discrepancy, Stern noted that across the country the median threshold is $100, while in New Jersey it’s $400.
But he’s against reporting every single expenditure, as California once required of contributions of one penny or more.
“In California, to say [Gray] Davis or [Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger would have to report $25, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “In a smaller town, if it should be lower, drop it down.”
Other reform requirements include searchable online databases and the disclosure of charitable contributions.
As for how to enforce these laws, Stern said the center is working on a penalties section of the report.
“I don’t recommend felonies, I recommend one day and one night in prison - minimum,” Stern said, drawing laughter from the group. “That’d be a real deterrent.”
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