CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - In a story March 27 about the West Virginia Senate approving higher campaign finance limits, The Associated Press reported erroneously the vote total. The bill was approved 21-12, not 21-11.
A corrected version of the story is below:
West Virginia Senate votes for higher campaign donations
West Virginia’s Senate has voted to raise the campaign contribution limit from $1,000 to $2,700 to a candidate in a primary or general election and revise other provisions in state election law
By The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia’s Senate voted Monday to raise the campaign contribution limit from $1,000 to $2,700 to a candidate in a primary or general election and revise other provisions in state election law.
The bill approved 21-12 now goes to the House for consideration.
Sen. Corey Palumbo, a Charleston Democrat, said the changes will increase the influence of the wealthy on West Virginia politics and reduce the influence of common citizens. The proposed changes would effectively raise the individual donation limit in a state candidate’s campaign cycle to $5,400, he said.
“The phrase of the session should be: It’s great to be rich,” Palumbo said. “Because once again we’re going to cater to those with money to provide them with more influence on elections. We’re going to do it when not on the other hand increasing disclosures.”
“I think this is going to be bad for the vast majority of our constituents who don’t have $2,700 to provide to candidates,” Palumbo added. “They don’t have $5,400 to provide over the course of the primary and the general.”
Sen. Mike Romano, another member of the chamber’s Democratic minority, said they could put elections back in the hands of regular people by limiting all contributions to $100. “Then it won’t be how rich your friends are but how many friends and supporters you have.”
What’s really needed and missing from the bill is disclosure of dark money, public reporting of people contributing to the independent expenditure groups that promote or attack candidates, Romano said.
Sen. Robert Karnes, an Upshur County Republican, says it should actually reduce the influence of so-called “dark money” from independent expenditure groups by letting West Virginians donate more money that’s publicly reported. “What you’re going to see with the $2,700 limit is less money going to those PACs,” he said.
It takes $75,000 to $300,000 to run a state Senate campaign in West Virginia, Karnes said. “And there’s nobody in this room that raised more than a few thousand dollars with contributions of 50 bucks or 100 bucks.”
Sen. Charles Trump, Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee that advanced the bill, said it rewrites many provisions of the state campaign finance code, raising contribution limits for the first time in more than a generation. It also broadens the issue of political action committees and requires accounting for receipts and expenditures, he said.
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