PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Three of the five top spenders in Rhode Island state races during the 2014 election cycle were candidates who helped bankroll their own campaigns, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by a watchdog group.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Clay Pell spent $1.3 million, while Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Block spent about $605,000, the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity said. Both lost in the primary.
Seth Magaziner won the race for general treasurer after spending $505,000.
John Marion, executive director of the open government group Common Cause, said it may seem like candidates with unlimited resources have an edge, but Rhode Island voters seem to prefer candidates who can demonstrate a broad base of support with many smaller donors.
“When you have a top five list and three are self-funders, and two didn’t win, that kind of leaps off the page,” he said Wednesday.
The other top donors were the Democratic Governors Association and the Government Integrity Fund, which each spent more than $700,000.
The center’s totals for 2014 state-level campaigns come from disclosures made by candidates and state political parties, as well as state and federal records of 140 independent groups that spent money on television ads during the election cycle.
The analysis does not include donations tied to ballot initiative campaigns or federal races for the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate. It also doesn’t offer a complete bottom line on donations, given that disclosure rules and schedules vary from state to state. Some late-campaign or postelection contributions also were not included in the analysis.
Comparisons to previous election cycles are also difficult, because the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowed technically independent political organizations - unions, corporate PACs and the like - to spend unlimited amounts of money directly on elections, effectively bypassing limits placed on their donations to candidates and political parties.
Gov. Gina Raimondo said the nation’s campaign finance system is broken and she called Citizens United a “terrible decision.”
“There’s entirely too much money in politics and we need to muster the political will to bring about real campaign finance reform,” she said.
Pell said he couldn’t comment because he was working with the Coast Guard on Wednesday. Block said the cost of running for statewide office is “excessively high.”
“I don’t think that does democracy any favors,” he said.
Magaziner said he chose to invest in his campaign because he believes the treasurer’s office can be a driver for economic growth in Rhode Island.
The Democratic Governors Association spent $764,000 in support of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Raimondo, according to the analysis.
The Government Integrity Fund spent $735,000. Campaign finance reports show the fund transferred the same amount to the Mid America Fund. The Mid America Fund, in turn, spent $705,000 on negative ads targeting Raimondo, the Center for Public Integrity said.
The Rhode Island Democratic Party submitted a complaint to the state Board of Elections after the Government Integrity Fund failed to file donor disclosure reports. The elections board has not yet taken any action on it.
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