12 February 2009 - 17:14My letter concerning KS HB 2244
During my lunch reading on BoingBoing, I came across an article concerning a bill in the Kansas house of representatives that affects campaign contributions and indeed seems specifically aimed at, conveniently enough, the challenger of the rep who’s sponsoring it. Sean Tevis ran against this representative, Scott Schwab (R) Olathe, collected a bunch of money, netroots-style and nearly pulled off an upset. Now he wants to quash this innovative means of raising funds by essentially holding the small donors’ information out there for potential publication.
I can’t vote, but I can write my rep, which is what I did. Here’s the text of the letter, with minor redactions. I copied Sean on this. Hopefully, it’s ok that I put it up here.
Dear Ms. *,
I would like to express my concern about a bill currently in the House, HB 2244, regarding campaign donations. It may interest you to know that the bill’s sponsor, Scott Schwab (R) of Olathe, faced a competitive race in November against Sean Tevis. Mr. Tevis utilized his understanding of technology to mount a successful web-based fund-raising campaign. He was able to collect a large number of small donations to help in his run for the seat. The bill being sponsored by Mr. Schwab is clearly aimed at discouraging such innovative uses of technology. Accepting that, as an incumbent, he has an interest doing what he can to shore up his strategic position, including weakening the base of support of his prospective rival, I still find the nature of the bill to be cynical and unfair. Mr. Tevis has outlined his reasons for opposing the bill in a blog post at:
http://seantevis.com/weblog/story/my-response-to-house-bill-no-2244-aka-the-sean-tevis-bill/
The main point of his argument is that the arbitrary cut-off of $1000 creates a situation where individuals who give a small amount, with an accompanying understanding of having a small entitlement to access, would be subject to having their donations made public should the candidate be successful in fund-raising and rise above the threshold. Having thresholds on individual campaign donations makes sense, because the donor would understand the point at which their donation becomes part of the public record. The situation presented by the bill under consideration, however, gives no such clear-cut assurances.
It is my sincere hope that you will take this argument into consideration and do what you can work against HB 2244.
In the interest of disclosure, I would like to say that while I am a resident in your district, I am not a voting constituent, as I am a Resident Alien. I have lived in this district with my wife and family for 12 years.
Respectfully,
Robert C*
Edit: here’s a link to the text of the bill:
http://seantevis.com/images/uploads/hb2244-big.gif
