No Limits On Gifts or Questions

Campaign Contributions Worry Some Virginians

By Rosalind S. Helderman

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wealthy friends and accommodating campaign finance laws have allowed the two men running for governor of Virginia to compile tens of thousands of dollars from individual donors in what is expected to be the most expensive race in the state's history.

For his campaign for governor, R. Creigh Deeds has received $160,000 from an insurance company heiress who settled in his home county and befriended the Democrat, part of $315,000 she has donated to his campaigns since 2004.

Republican Robert F. McDonnell has received more than $36,700 from Thomas F. Farrell II for his gubernatorial run. Farrell is a high school buddy of McDonnell's who grew up to become president of Dominion Resources, one of Virginia's largest companies, and has donated $52,831 to his old pal's campaigns. A Dominion spokesman said Farrell was not available for comment.

Virginia is one of only six states that imposes no limits on donations, a system that has resulted, critics charge, in increasingly expensive campaigns and candidates who must cater to wealthy donors.

The rules also introduce a powerful and infrequently mentioned force into Virginia elections: luck.

"It's how the political system has worked for years," said Bruce McWilliams, whose wife, Sarah, has become Deeds's largest patron. McWilliams spoke from the porch of the Inn at Gristmill Square that he helps run with his wife and mother in Warm Springs, in Bath County. Sarah McWilliams declined to be interviewed. "There's always an element of luck," he said.

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, $32.2 million had been raised for this year's governor's race through June 30, although that number might be inflated by the spring's vigorous primary campaign. The three Democrats together raised $20.6 million. The 2005 gubernatorial campaign cost $48.7 million, a third more than in 2001.

Politicians in Virginia operate under highly unusual finance rules that require exceptional transparency of candidates and contributors but put virtually no limits on who can give and how much. The system has been little challenged in recent years, in part because proponents think it reduces the time candidates spend raising money and encourages candid giving, as donors write checks directly to candidates instead of anonymously backing independent political action groups.

But free-for-all giving also reduces the need for candidates to reach out to small donors, such as those who buoyed President Obama's federal campaign last year, and makes them beholden to a small circle of donors able to contribute tens of thousands of dollars.

It's a question that arises every four years, as the cost of statewide campaigns spirals upward: Would voters have more confidence in the state's political system if limits were imposed on donors?

Deeds and McDonnell part ways on the question. Although a Deeds spokesman, Mike Gehrke, said the campaign could not be competitive if it were to "unilaterally disarm" by accepting voluntary limits on donations, the Democratic state senator has long backed imposing legal limits on all campaigns. McDonnell supports the state's existing system of allowing unlimited but transparent giving, his spokesman said.

Deeds and McDonnell have compiled an impressive list of big givers, many of whom represent top corporate interests in the state. Deeds boasts 129 donors who have given $5,000 or more, including four donors in addition to McWilliams who have contributed more than $100,000. Top donors include real estate developers, the founder of CarMax auto dealers and Dave Matthews Band member Boyd Tinsley.

McDonnell has collected $5,000 or more from 184 donors. His top supporters include a venture capitalist who was once a business partner of Sen. Mark Warner's and the founder of coal company Cumberland Resources Corp.

Both campaigns have collected even more from political action committees, notably the national parties and Republican and Democratic governor's associations.

But the two have also benefited significantly from rules that allow unlimited personal giving. An analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan group that tracks giving, said that McDonnell would be $1.68 million poorer if the federal limit of $4,800 imposed in general election and primary campaigns were in place in Virginia. Deeds has taken in $1.5 million more than he would have been allowed under the federal rules.

McWilliams said his wife met with Deeds after she moved to the western Virginia community and decided that he was a "solid, middle-of-the-road guy" who would bring common sense and good values to public office. Deeds became a cause for McWilliams, not unlike local charities she adopted: a women's shelter in Covington, the Bath County historical society, the world-class music center nestled on a hillside near the inn.

Her husband said that she has no particular public policy position she hopes Deeds will pursue in office and that she would never think of asking for something in exchange for her support.

"This goes beyond a political campaign — she likes to make a difference," he said. "But she doesn't have an agenda. If she did, she'd be talking about it."

But most voters reject the idea that donors give such large quantities expecting nothing in return, said Nick Nyhart, president and chief executive of Public Campaign, a national group that advocates tight restrictions on private giving along with public campaign financing.

"It's an open invitation to corruption," Nyhart said. "When someone can offer you huge amounts of money that can radically or substantially increase the chances of a candidate winning, it invites a kind of quid pro quo or a feeling that the person who receives that money might be indebted. It undermines public confidence in governing."

The General Assembly has repeatedly considered and rejected proposals to impose limits on donations, including a 2000 bill by Deeds. This spring, he said during a debate leading up to the Democratic primary that he supports Virginia's disclosure requirements for donors but continues to believe that more needs to be done to restore public confidence about the role of money in politics.

"I'm convinced there has to be some mechanism to assure the public that money is not playing an undue influence in the process," he said.

He noted that he raised $65,000 to run for the House of Delegates in his first election in 1991.

"I was appalled at the whole false economy that we created around politics that didn't produce anything except a result at election time," he said, adding: "The system hasn't gotten any better since 1991."

McDonnell communications director Tucker Martin said the Republican likes Virginia's existing system and would not support imposing limits. Running for office costs money, he said, and donors represent a coalition of people who get involved for their own reasons.

Virginia does not have a reputation for particularly dirty elections, unlike some states that do impose limits, he said.

Imposing such limits, Martin said, often encourages wealthy donors to work as "bundlers," boosting their influence by agreeing to sway friends and family to donate. Both campaigns said bundlers, common in federal elections, are rare in Virginia.

"The system in Virginia works well," he said. "You can give as much as you wish, but everyone knows how much you give."

Although campaign finance has been a hot topic nationally, efforts to change Virginia's laws have been limited. Del. Albert C. Pollard Jr. (D-Northumberland), who has sponsored several unsuccessful bills to impose limits on donations, said there has been little institutional support for his efforts.

"We're the Cayman Islands of campaign finance reform," he said. "I'd have more luck if I were urging Virginia to invest in research on alien visitors."

Tagged: Bob McDonnell, Creigh Deeds, fundraiser, politics, State news

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