House Says No To Corporate Campaign Contributions

In West Virginia, corporations are prohibited from contributing funds to political campaigns. That is a policy members of the West Virginia House of Delegates chose to uphold this week.

House Bill 2719 was voted down Thursday by a vote of 54 to 41, with five lawmakers absent. The bill would have enabled corporations to donate up to $2,800 per individual campaign during an election cycle, plus up to $5,000 per political action committee — private groups that use their funds to promote candidates and pieces of legislation.

Del. Mike Hornby, R-Berkeley, was lead sponsor on the bill, and said his initial intent was to allow minor campaign contributions from businesses.

“I think a candidate should be able to have a business support them in their elections,” Hornby said on the House floor Thursday.

Speaking in favor of the bill, Del. Jordan Maynor, R-Raleigh, noted that several other states currently permit corporate campaign financing, and argued that reporting requirements made the bill more transparent.

Under state law, large campaign contributions generally must be reported to the State Election Commission or the secretary of state. Corporate contributions above $250 would have required donating entities to disclose things like their address and primary type of business.

“This is a transparency bill. This allows your local business [to contribute],” Maynor said.

But the bill faced a wave of pushback from both sides of the aisle on the House floor. House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said he worried corporate involvement would muddy the democratic process.

“No one at home wants more money in politics. We have this fascination with money and greed, and what happens is we don’t get elected officials based upon merit, or what they can do,” Hornbuckle said. “It just becomes a rich man’s game. That’s all it is. So, effectively, we’re not representing the people at home, because it’s going to the highest bidder.”

Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, expressed concern that there is no limit on how many corporations an individual can create, so individuals could register multiple corporations with the intent of surpassing contribution limits for individual entities.

Speaking on behalf of the House Judiciary Committee, Maynor confirmed the text of the bill did not include stipulations surrounding an individual donating through multiple corporations.

“We just banned food dyes from certain foods. I’m not sure which is more harmful, the dyes in the foods or the money in politics,” Williams said in reference to House Bill 2354, a bill banning certain food additives that passed earlier in the floor session.

Concerns over the bill were also voiced from Hornby’s own party. Del. Henry Dillon, R-Wayne, said he worried companies’ contributions could outpace “the average voter constituent in our districts” who “can’t even begin to afford to part with that type of money.”

Dillon said he found the bill worrisome “when we think about whether or not they’re even considering putting $2,800 toward influencing an election, or whether they’re thinking about putting their $2,800 toward purchasing groceries for that week, or gasoline, or their electric bill.”

Ultimately, concerns over the bill won out. With a majority of delegates voting against it, House Bill 2719 was not communicated to the West Virginia Senate for further consideration Thursday, which would have marked its next step to become law.