FRANKFORT - Kentucky election officials and some lawmakers are looking to tinker with campaign finance laws this year, especially in light of the state's slipping out of the top 10 in a national ranking.
The California-based Campaign Disclosure Project dropped Kentucky to 13th in its annual rankings for 2005, down from No. 10 in 2004. The state continues to be dragged down by an "F" rating for a low rate of electronic filing of fund-raising and spending reports.
"Nothing's gotten worse," said John Rogers, a Glasgow lawyer who serves as chairman of the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, which regulates candidates' spending and collecting of funds.
"It's just that some states have made improvements when we haven't," he added.
Currently, candidates may send their fund-raising reports to the registry through an electronic program or in writing through the mail.
Having more candidates file electronically would allow the registry's staff to post figures on its public Web site almost immediately and would save employees from having to manually input numbers from hand-written forms, Rogers said.
The other key provision election officials are considering is requiring more frequent fund-raising reports from candidates, said Secretary of State Trey Grayson.
The current law allows for long lulls. Candidates must disclose their spending and fund-raising 32 days after the May primary elections, but not again until 32 days before the November general elections, leaving a four-month gap during a key fund-raising period.
So Grayson and Rogers are working with key lawmakers who handle election and state government issues, including Republican Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown and Democratic Rep. Mike Cherry of Princeton.
Reform package
They're pushing for a package of reforms first proposed in 2005 by a special election finance task force.
Among specific changes under discussion are:
• Adding a new reporting date 60 days before each election.
• Requiring electronic filings from those who raise and spend more than $25,000 in their campaigns and/or candidates who are seeking high-profile offices, including legislative seats or the statewide positions of governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and agriculture commissioner.
• Raising the contribution limits from $1,000 to match the federal election donations cap, $2,100. That increases incrementally each election cycle to keep up with inflation.
Grayson conceded that the last one might be controversial.
"But if you have better disclosure I think you can argue that there could be higher limits," Grayson said, noting that a $2,100 cap on what a donor could give a candidate is roughly half of the $4,000 limit Kentucky had in 1991.
Public financing
Still, Rep. Kathy Stein, a Lexington Democrat, said she would like to see the state return to public financing of elections so that candidates are less beholden to special interests and can focus more on issues and campaigning rather than on raising money.
The 1995 and 1999 state-wide elections were run under those rules, but lawmakers scrapped that system before the 2003 governor's race.
Thayer, the GOP senator, said he doesn't see those days coming back, but that it's still time to make other changes.
"We generally make adjustments in Kentucky every 10 years or so. And that's, quite frankly, why we rank so high," he said of the Campaign Disclosure Projects report. "Yes, we've slipped a couple of spots according to this report, but we're still quite high. And I do think it's time to make some adjustments."
Grayson said he's confident that the proposed reforms could go a long way toward making Kentucky an established national leader in campaign finance laws.
"Some of my favorite suggestions are the kind of things that would put us back in the top ten," Grayson said.