(Host) Officials in charge of overseeing Vermont’s elections say lawmakers should consider changes to the state’s campaign finance laws, including increasing the penalty for violations.
VPR’s Steve Zind reports.
(Zind) The penalty for each campaign finance law violation currently stands at a maximum of $10,000.
Speaking on VPR’s Vermont Edition, Attorney General Bill Sorrell said in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year, large national groups are able to pour more money into statewide campaigns.
For many of those organizations the current penalty is too small to act as a deterrent.
(Sorrell) "An outside entity that spent millions of dollars in races all over the country, $10,000 gets lost in rounding. So one of the things that the legislature might consider is very significantly increasing the penalties for these outside entities to the extent that they violate our campaign finance laws whether in registration or disclosure or coordination."
(Zind) Sorrell says U.S. Supreme Court rulings have made it clear that states have to be careful in limiting campaign contributions and can set no limits on what campaigns spend.
Other possible changes to Vermont Campaign laws could include more stringent reporting requirements.
Secretary of State elect Jim Condos says the legislature should consider increasing the number of times political campaigns and organizations have to file financial information. Condos says making it possible to file reports electronically will improve and streamline the process.
(Condos) "I would expect the House and the Senate will come to come to agreement on e-filing which will make it a lot easier to make more up to date and more frequent filings of campaign finance reports."
(Zind) Condos says electronic filing will mean voters will be able to access up-to-date campaign finance information online.
He says the state should also consider requiring more information about people who donate to political campaigns – like the name of their employer.
For VPR news, I’m Steve Zind.