Ethics board lives up to its name

April 19, 2007
Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial

The new, independent Philadelphia Board of Ethics lived up to its promise this week, bravely putting muscle behind the city's campaign-finance rules.

At the same time, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wisely postponed a challenge to the donor limits until after the May 15 primary.

The court's decision Tuesday means there will be no return to no-holds-barred fund-raising by candidates for mayor and City Council.

As the election watchdog group Committee of Seventy noted, the campaign limits are "a critical safeguard against a return to the city's time-honored pay-to-play culture."

The ethics board this week required U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) to refund more than $56,000 in campaign funds. That sends the right signal about complying with the law.

In support of his run for mayor, Fattah erred in using more than $36,000 raised outside the donor limits prior to his campaign launch in November. He also has to return a $20,000 donation from an individual - far in excess of the city's $5,000 annual limit. (Political committees can give no more than $20,000 to any one candidate.)

These are dollars the Fattah campaign hates to lose, given that it lags in fund-raising. So the ethics board's action has some teeth; it's a warning to other candidates to live within the donation limits.

(Yes, in this race, millionaire Tom Knox has end-run the limits, buying his way to the top of the polls using his own money. This rare worst-case scenario shows that no campaign finance system is foolproof, but this one is still superior to the previous, corrupt, anything-goes atmosphere.)

Fattah's fund-raising prior to declaring his candidacy formally highlighted a shortcoming in the city's campaign finance law. That is, unannounced candidates are permitted by the city law to raise unlimited funds to pay for such things as amassing get-out-the-vote mailing lists and policy papers.

A better approach would be to adhere to the Pennsylvania election code rule that says a candidacy is considered official once fund-raising starts.